Master of Power
by Emtress Bookwyrm
Summary: Basically a retelling of the series, but with the addition of my OC, Zora, as the Master of Power. There will be some changes in pairings and in certain plot lines. Structured in episode format. (Sorry if the summary isn't good, it's my first one.)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello, my lovelies! This is my first ever fanfic (Oh, my goodness, I can't believe I'm actually doing this! Ahh!) so please be understanding. Please comment and review, I'd really like your feedback. So, without further ado, let's get on with this story! Enjoy!

**(Zora's POV)**

Around noon on a warm summer's day, I arrived in a small town. It was pretty isolated, but that was good. It meant that the Institute probably wouldn't search for me here. I sighed as the breeze played with my hair.

Just then, my stomach decided to let loose with an earthshaking rumble. I winced.

_Welp...guess I need to get some food._

I continued walking until I came to a small shop. The sign over the door read 'Four Weapons'. I heard people talking, so I went over and knocked on the door jamb.

A teenage boy came over to greet me. His spiked hair seemed to defy gravity.

"H-hello, how can I help you?" he asked politely, stuttering a little.

I didn't blame him. Considering the fact that I was still in the scrub-like uniform of the Institute and I hadn't washed my hair for days, I was a mess.

"I could use some directions. Also, information about possible job opportunities would be good."

He seemed frozen until a teen girl motioned me inside. It was a blacksmith's shop and forge. I started looking at the various weapons and armor. They were quite nice.

_Pity I don't have any money..._

Then I noticed a curly sword-the entire blade was crumpled in on itself. I pointed to it.

"What happened to that?"

The boy blushed.

"Um-I was trying to make a sword and it came out wrong," he said sheepishly.

"Kai's too impatient. He always rushes when he makes a weapon," the girl chimed in. Seeing my confusion, she clarified, "Oh, this is my brother, Kai. I'm Nya."

"Nice to meet you," I said quietly, eyes down. "I'm Zora."

I shook their hands carefully, then continued looking at the armor until I heard footsteps coming up to the entrance. I spun around.

"Your metal is loud and heavy," stated the old man who had walked up. "Useful to slow one down. Useless in the art of stealth. All tools for a samurai-but nothing for a ninja?"

Kai stalked over to the man. " Ninja? You're a long way from finding a ninja in these parts, old man. And this shop is called _Four_ Weapons, not _For _Browsing. Either buy something or go peddle your insults somewhere else."

I raised my brows, but said nothing. Nya sighed. The old man then turned to me.

"What of you, young one?" I looked at him in confusion, then suspicion. I remained silent.

"Hmph. Too bad. I thought I'd find something special here."

Nya gestured at Kai, and he went over and picked up a helmet.

"If it's something special you want-" he started, then stopped. The man had disappeared.

"Huh. So, anyway, Zora, where did you want to go? And where did you come from? You're not from Ignacia, are you?"

I shook my head, but then noticed that the sky was darkening. I ran outside.

"Um, I think we've got trouble!" I said, waving them over. Kai put on some armor and grabbed a sword. We stepped outside.

The sky had gone dark, and skeletons on motorcycles were zooming up to the shop.

_Skulkin. Oh, dear, this can't be good._

"What are they?" Nya asked her brother.

"I don't know. Stay here, you two."

He ran out and started fighting. Nya grabbed a staff and went to help. I waited in the shop, since I saw two skeletons creeping toward it. I hid in the shadows and waited.

One of the skeletons was trying on a helmet. When the other one noticed, he threw another helmet and growled, "You're not looking hard enough!"

The other snapped back with the same retort, and soon they were in a slapping match. I sighed and waited for my chance. While they were tussling, they knocked into the sign, knocking it over. A piece of paper was plastered inside.

"THE MAP!"

"Hey," I said, stepping out of the shadows. "That doesn't belong to you, you know."

The skeletons screamed, their tussle forgotten. Then, I heard Kai. He was cornered by Samukai, the king of the Skulkin. I looked back and forth, then made my choice.

"Coming, Kai!" I thrust my hands at Samukai and focused with all my might. A wave of ice flowed from my hands and trapped the skeleton king.

"Wh-what? How?..." Kai began. I hauled him to his feet.

"Fight now, questions later, yes?" I said, dropping into a fighting stance. _For once, I can make use of what the Institute did to me…_

As Samukai broke free of the ice and advanced on us, he was suddenly pulled away by a golden tornado. When it stopped spinning, I realized that it was the same man from earlier.

"Sensei Wu. Your Spinjitzu looks rusty."

"Nothing like bone to sharpen its edge, Samukai."

The king looked at us, both under the water tower as I tried to help Kai, who had been knocked down by the tornado. He threw all four of his knives. The sensei avoided them, but they slammed into the tower, sending it toppling onto us.

I groaned in annoyance. I could get out of the way, but Kai couldn't. To my surprise, he tried to cover me with his body.

_What the what?_

Luckily for us, Sensei Wu spirited us away in his Spinjitzu tornado. Samukai returned to his vehicle.

"Lord Garmadon says take the girl!"

"Lord Garmadon?" The sensei's eyes grew large.

A bone claw was launched from a truck, grabbing Nya and pulling her up.

"Nya!"

I raced after the trucks, trying to slow them down. I used every element I had (which was a lot) but nothing worked. I finally went back to Kai.

"They took Nya," he said, looking devastated. The sensei came up and rapped on his helmet.

"I told you-useless."

"Argh!" Kai burst out, turning around. "You could've done something! You could've used your-your Twist-itzu or your-"

"_Spin_-jitzu."

"But you did nothing." He turned to follow the vehicles. "I'm going to get my sister back."

"Where they go, a mortal cannot. That was Samukai, king of the Underworld. And if it's true that he is carrying out orders for Lord Garmadon, than I fear things are far worse than I had ever thought."

"Lord Garmadon? Underworld? What's going on? What do we have that's so important to them, and why would they take my sister?"

"What's so important? How about everything in Ninjago itself!" Sensei began. My ears perked up.

"Long before time had a name, Ninjago was created by the first Spinjitzu master, by using the four Weapons of Spinjitzu: the Scythe of Quakes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Shurikens of Ice, and the Sword of Fire-weapons so powerful, no one could handle all their power at once. When he passed away, his two sons swore to protect them, but the oldest was consumed by darkness and wanted to possess them. A battle between brothers broke out, and the oldest was struck down and banished to the Underworld.

Peace returned, and the younger brother hid the weapons. But knowing his brother's relentless ambition for power, he placed a guardian to protect them. And for fear of his own demise, a map for an honest man to hide. That honest man was your father," he said, looking at Kai.

"You're the younger brother?" I guessed. He nodded.

"The older brother is Lord Garmadon, and I need to find those weapons before he does."

"Then you came here looking for the map?" Kai asked.

"No, I came for something greater-you," said Sensei Wu. He turned to me. "I didn't expect to see you here, but it is certainly good that you are, I need your help as well."

Then he continued. "Since my brother cannot enter this realm, it's obvious he has struck a deal with Samukai. If he were to collect all four weapons, even I would not be able to stop him again."

"But you-"he pointed at Kai, "you have the fire inside. And you, Miss Zora, have many gifts, as you well know," he smiled at me. I turned my head, feeling irrational rage rising up. I forcefully throttled it down, but not before I set a bush on fire from several feet away. Kai jumped, looking nervous.

"Look, I'm flattered you think I'm all that, but I've got to save my sister, not get involved in your sibling rivalry." he turned to go, beckoning for me to follow. However, the sensei jumped into the air, spun, and landed on Kai, pinning him.

"Clunk of you-you're not even ready to face my pinky toe," he chided. "If you want to get your sister back, you must learn to control the fire that burns inside. Zora already can control her abilities-mostly," he added, looking at the charred shrub. "And only when you become a Spinjitzu Master will you be able to face-Lord Garmadon!"

Kai looked over at me. "What do you think, Zora?"

I thought for a minute, then took a deep breath. "I don't think we have much choice."

He sighed in defeat. "Okay-then when do we start?"

Sensei got off of Kai, and I went to help him up.

"Oh, Kai?" I said quietly, catching his arm. "We'll find Nya, I promise."

He smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Zora."

**A/N: OH. MY. GOODNESS. 1,589 words. *faints* Wow. I didn't mean to make this chapter so long. So, how do you like Zora? Are you interested in the story? Please review and comment! See you soon, my lovelies!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Alright, it is time for Zora to meet the famous ninjas! (Well, soon-to-be-famous, anyway!)

Jay: Hooray!

Cole: Hush, Zaptrap! She'll hear us!

Kai: Yeah, guys, I don't wanna ruin my chances of fame.

Zane: Indeed, perhaps if we listen, we will get some clues as to what is going to happen.

Me: *sneaks up behind them* Ninja-BOO!

Ninja: *scream like little girls and flee for their lives*

Me: Hehe...I am gonna have so much fun with them.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for Zora.

**(Zora's POV)**

Apparently we were going to start on our path to being ninja by climbing a very tall mountain. I didn't have much trouble-my extensive training had conditioned me to the point where I could endure lots of physical activity. I wasn't even sweating that much. Soon, I reached a ledge near the top and looked down.

Poor Kai was having a much harder time of it. It took him almost ten minutes to reach me. Finally, I reached my hand down to help him out.

"How did you do that?" he gasped out as he grabbed my hand. I hauled him up and we began climbing again.

"Believe it or not, I'm used to this," I said, pulling myself over the last ledge. Sensei was waiting. Kai was shocked, I was not.

"Um-" Kai started, trying to catch his breath. "So how long is this training going to be? Aren't we in a bit of a hurry since they have the map?"

Sensei pulled on his beard.

"Patience. You will be ready when you are ready, and not a minute sooner."

We walked up to a beautiful monastery, and the doors swung open at our approach. Slowly, Kai and I entered the courtyard.

"A monastery? You want us to learn to fight in a place of peace?" Kai asked, incredulous. I looked around, cataloging every detail.

"Not fight. _Traaaiiin. _To become a true ninja, first you must learn to see what others do not."

He looked over at me. I was examining a faint circle cut into the ground. Sensei chuckled, then walked over a golden dragon pedestal and knocked on it with his staff. A button popped out.

I raised my eyebrows, then yelped in surprise as I suddenly shot several feet in the air. A training course had sprung up out of nowhere. Now I was stuck on top of one of the obstacles. Kai gasped in amazement while I tried to restart my heart.

'Woah. Is this gonna teach us that awesome move?" He jumped up on a small wooden pillar and started doing silly poses. Then the pillar started to sink. Sensei watched in concern.

"Oh, dear."

Suddenly, the pillar sprang back up, launching Kai into the air. He hit the great pole in the center of the courtyard and fell into a heap.

"Ow."

I hopped down (carefully) from my perch and went over to help him up. Sensei had grabbed a teapot and was settling down on the small porch.

"Complete the training course before I finish my tea," he said, putting a napkin on his lap. "Then we will see if either of you are ready."

Kai sat there in confusion, but I was off like a bullet.

_Dodge the swords, roll through the shield, slice the dummy, leap over the pillars. Dodge, roll, slice, jump._

When I hit the ground, I looked up. Sensei had barely set his cup down. Kai looked like he was about to faint.

"How…"

Sensei looked shocked as well.

"Um, sorry?" I said sheepishly, waiting for the inevitable blow or sharp words.

"Well-" Sensei said, clearing his throat. "Zora, you have successfully completed the course, well done. And you-" he said, turning to Kai. "Today you failed. Tomorrow you will try again."

"Failed? But I didn't even start t-" kai broke off as Sensei left. I went over and gave him a hand.

"You want help?" I said, gesturing to the course. He blushed, shaking his head.

"Nah, I'll figure it out. Thanks, though."

Kai looked down sadly. I gently grabbed his hands.

"Hey. We'll find her, I swear." He smiled, and I gave him a tiny one in return.

(A/N: I'm going to skip over Kai's multiple failures to his long awaited success 'cause I'm lazy and I want this to be a manageable length)

**(Kai's POV)**

It had been nearly a week since we had first arrived at the monastery. trained with me in the morning, and then Sensei would test me. Every day, I failed.

Well, not today.

I was off as soon as Sensei grabbed his napkin. I leapt over the planks, knocked aside a dummy, and somersaulted past a blade. I turned and saw Sensei bringing his cup to his lips. I threw my wooden sword at him and knocked the cup away. Then I continued as he struggled to catch up. Soon, he was looking around for me.

"Is that one sugar, or two?" I said, holding out the cup. Sensei humphed and stood.

"So, am I going to learn this Spinjitzu I've been hearing so much about?"

"You already know it. Your final test comes tomorrow. My advice is to get some sleep." He walked away.

I sat there confused for a minute, but then shook it off and went to go find Zora and tell (okay, brag) about my success. I hoped she'd be impressed.

I wandered around the monastery for a while, looking for Zora before I finally found her. She was in her room, laying on her bed.

_Is she asleep?_

I snuck up quietly and watched her. She looked...relaxed, which she never did when she was awake. I smiled, and decided to wait here until she woke up.

"Yes, Kai?" I nearly had a heart attack. She opened her eyes and sat up. Then she realized I was lying on my back gasping for breath. "Are you alright?"

"How long have you been awake?" I wheezed, getting to my feet. "And how did you know I was in here?"

"One, I was never asleep. I was just thinking. Two, I heard you come in. The tread was unmistakable."

I nodded slowly, hand on my chest.

"Anyway, I came to tell you that I beat the course," I said bashfully.

_Why am I so awkward around her? Come on, Kai, play it cool!_

"Good job. So, is Sensei going to teach us Spinjitzu?" she patted the bed, and I sat down next to her.

"He said we already know it," I shrugged. "And he said something about a final test."

"Really? What did he say?"

"He said we'd have our final test tomorrow, and we should get some sleep."

"Hmm."

**(Zora's POV)**

As soon as I heard that Sensei's advice was to sleep, I grew suspicious. Why would he emphasize that so strongly? So, that night, I packed pillows under my blanket to look like a human form. Then I hid in the shadows and waited.

It felt like an eternity, and I had started to doze off in my hiding place, when I finally heard footsteps outside. I snapped to attention and slunk farther back, even using my powers to hide more effectively.

A moment later, a person dressed in black crept in, a scythe on his back. I watched him tiptoe over to my bed. Slowly, I raised my arm, and the scythe flew to my open hand.

Just then, there was a loud crash. Both the intruder and I jumped, then he ran outside, me just behind.

Once we reached the courtyard, I saw Kai engaged in a tussle with two other masked intruders. The one from my room ran to join, reaching for his scythe.

I undid my invisibility and ran to help. With a quick jerk, I yanked out his legs from under him, sending him sprawling.

One of the intruders gasped, nudging his partner and hissing, "She's got his scythe! She's got his scythe!" until I punched him in the face. Then I ran over to the dragon pedestal and pushed the button. The training course knocked all three ninjas (what else could they be?) to the ground.

However, the delay was momentary. Soon, they were all fighting again. I remained just outside the action, waiting for a chance. Soon, they were all dog piled on each other, and Sensei finally arrived.

"_STOP!_"

To my surprise, the three intruders stood up and bowed.

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Wait, they're your students too?" asked a confused Kai. Then he smacked his face with his palm. "This was our final test, wasn't it?"

"Woah, woah, woah," said one of the ninjas. He held nunchucks in his hands. "You never said anything about a fourth, let alone a fifth! It's always three! Three blind mice, three musketeers, three-"

"What he's trying to say, Sensei," interrupted the one who'd come into my room, "is that the three of us have trained together. We're solid." He put his hands together to show his point.

"Didn't look so solid to me," Kai scoffed. I sighed, then walked over to the boys.

"This is yours, I believe?" I said softly, holding out the scythe. The ninja took it with a nod. I then stood in between Kai and the one with nunchucks.

"Also, Kai? They did pretty well," I chided. Sensei looked at me with approval.

"Master, what is the meaning of this?" asked the third stranger. He held shurikens.

"Each of you has been chosen, each in tune with elemental properties-or in Zora's case, _elements_." He nodded at me. I sighed, feeling rage rising up again. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a wooden dummy smoking.

_Oh, dear, not again._

"But first...Ninja-go!" He spun into his golden tornado and sped around us. Once he was done, we were all in new gis. From left to right was Shurikens, Nunchucks, me, Kai, and Scythe, now in gis of white, blue, navy, red, and black. We also all had weapons. Kai had a sword and I had a pair of gleaming sais.

_Nice. They're as good as the ones at the Institute…_

"Whoa!"

"Look what color I am!" said the overly excitable Nunchucks.

"Wait a minute. I'm still black," said Scythe, looking at Sensei.

Sensei went over to Kai and laid his staff on his shoulder.

"Kai, Master of Fire. It burns bright in you." Wu turned to Nunchucks.

"Jay is blue. Master of Lightning."

"That's not all I'm the master of," Jay bragged. He turned to me. "I do a little inventing, dabble in model building, a touch of cooking, little poetry…"

"More like mouth of lightning," muttered the black ninja. I had to hide a small chuckle at the joke.

"Black ninja is Cole, solid as rock. Master of Earth." Cole spun around and pointed his scythe in our faces. He pulled his hood off, revealing shaggy black hair and eyes of chocolate brown.

"Nice to meet you, kids. I got your backs. And for the record, there ain't nothing in this world I'm afraid of." He posed to show off his 'fearlessness'.

"Except for dragons," added Shurikens. Cole turned red.

"Dragons aren't from this world, Zane. I said _in_ this world." he muttered. Kai and Jay snickered.

"And white ninja is Zane," interrupted Sensei. "Master of Ice and seer with sixth sense."

The white ninja leapt up, spinning around with his shurikens. When he landed, he twirled the shurikens and made them vanish into golden sparkles.

"I sense this one takes things a little too seriously," Kai whispered to Cole and I. Zane looked over to us.

"You too have the gift?" he asked, removing his hood. He had tall, platinum blond hair and icy blue eyes. Jay put his hand on Zane's shoulder.

"He's just making a joke, Zane. Remember what we talked about? Your sense of humor?" He also removed his hood. He had auburn hair and electric blue eyes. He also had a scar across one eye.

"Oh, yes, it was a joke. Ha,ha." Zane said. Jay facepalmed.

"And last is Miss Zora," Sensei said, pointing to me. The boys all turned.

_Oh, why did I have to be last?_

"Zora is a special case. She has...how many abilities do you have again?"

I groaned. "I've lost track. As many as are in Ninjago, I guess." The boys looked shocked.

"Yes, well, anyway, I think it is only fitting that we call you the Master of Power because of all of your abilities."

"WOW! You have multiple powers? That's so cool!" Jay yelled.

"I must say, this is a very special gift, no?" Zane asked.

"Is that how you set fire to that bush?" Kai said excitedly.

"That's pretty impressive, Zora." Cole smiled.

I said nothing. Yes, it was cool, but it had been created in such a horrible way… Lightning started flashing in the sky, startling the boys.

"Pay attention!" Sensei said, giving me a pointed look. I blushed and scratched the back of my neck.

"You five are the chosen ones that will protect the four Golden Weapons from Lord Garmadon."

"But wait," Jay said, stepping forward. "There are five of us-who doesn't have a weapon?"

"Zora does not need a weapon to channel her power," Sensei explained. "She should be fine with her sais."

Jay nodded, then Kai stepped up.

"But what about my sister?"

"We're saving a girl? Is she hot?" Jay asked shamelessly. Cole nudged him.

"_Jay…_"

"I just want to know what we're getting ourselves into," he protested. Then he leaned over to me.

"Do either you or Kai's sister like blue?"

"I do, but I don't know about Nya."

Kai brandished his sword at Jay.

"Back off!"

"When we find the Golden Weapons, we will find your sister. Come, we must go to the first weapon." He turned, but Cole stopped him from leaving.

"Hold on a minute. You said you were going to teach us Spinjitzu."

"Spinjitzu is in each and every one of you. However, it will only be unlocked when the key is ready to be found." He turned again. "Come! My feet are tired. We will take the horse carriage." He left for his quarters. I looked at the rest of the ninja, but they all looked as confused as I felt.

"Great, now we have to find a key?" Jay whined.

_Heh...is he always like this?_

"Yeah, I feel like he's taking us for a ride," Cole said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if it means saving my sister-" Kai said, pulling his hood back on, "then sign me up."

As the boys walked up, I stopped dead.

_When I leave this monastery, I'm putting myself at risk-the Institute could find me easily, especially if we become well known. I could even put the others in danger. I should warn Sensei-and I have to tell the other ninja too._

_Am I even able to face that? _

_Guess I'll find out soon enough._

**A/N: Here we go, another chapter done! Somehow, this chapter was longer. (I'm seeing a pattern emerging) Hope you like it! Oh, before I forget, the ninja are all about 16 at this point. Zora and Nya are 15. **

**Ninjago Saga: Yay, I'm glad you liked her! And as for Season 9, I have no idea, I haven't watched that season yet. Guess we'll find out when I get there!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Hello readers! It's time to find the Golden Weapons! And now, we will finally see Zora's true skills.

Kai: Yes! I've been wanting to see this ever since she beat the course on the first try!

Other ninja: She did _what?!_

Me: *sips hot chocolate with a smile*

**(Zora's POV)**

The next morning, we found ourselves pulling Sensei Wu up a mountain in a carriage. Cole was in front, then Zane and I, then Kai and Jay. The boys were struggling, but I found it quite easy. I could see the boys eyeing me with jealousy.

"Sign me up!" Jay mocked Kai, gasping. "Nice going, spark plug!"

"I sense this is some strange form of-" Zane panted out, "-team building."

"Just keep pulling. We have a long way to go." Cole said unhelpfully. Kai rolled his eyes.

"So where did Sensei find you three?" Kai asked. Cole turned around.

"Well, let's just say...if it wasn't for Sensei, I don't think we'd ever be seen together. I was testing my limits by climbing a mountain-but I didn't expect to see an old man drinking tea at the top of it!"

"I was testing my invention," chimed Jay. "It might've worked if that stupid billboard hadn't gotten in my way."

"And I-*pant, pant*-was testing myself by staying underwater as long as I could. But Sensei was there too, drinking tea underwater-which I still do not understand." said Zane. The boys then turned to Kai and I.

"Well, Kai was running his blacksmith shop with Nya, and I came in to ask for directions. Then Samukai came and, well...here we are."

"Where did you want to go, Zora?" Jay asked. "And why were you in Ignacia?"

_Oh no. Not that line of questioning…_

"Hey, Zora, you okay?" Cole asked, sounding concerned. He turned around. "You kind of zoned out there for a minute."

"Yes, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing," I said quietly. It was fairly obvious that none of them believed me.

_I'll have to tell them eventually-but I'm not ready yet. And I most definitely need to warn Sensei._

"Soo…" Jay started, then he noticed everyone glaring at him.

"You do not need to tell us if you don't wish to. We will respect your privacy. Right, Jay?"

"Yeah, right, right!" Jay hurried to say. I nodded, but remained silent for the rest of the ride.

"You're right," said Kai, trying to alleviate the tension. "If it wasn't for Sensei, none of us would've-"

"Shh. Stop!" Sensei commanded. We halted and the boys sank to the ground, wheezing. "We are here."

As we moved to a small outcropping to view the area, Zane tapped my shoulder.

"If it would help, you are always welcome to talk to me," he offered. "But only if you feel okay with it."

'Thanks, Zane. That's very sweet of you," I said, smiling a little. We wandered over to the rest of the group. The area below us was crawling with skeletons, and there were towers of bone scattered throughout the area.

"The Caves of Despair. Samukai must be close to unearthing the Scythe of Quakes," whispered Sensei. "Remember, do not use the weapon, for its power-"

"Yeah, yeah, its power is too strong for us mortals," Jay interrupted. "Alright, guys, let's chop sake this lemonade stand. Anyone got a plan?"

"Sure do. First, we lower ourselves down the ledge, then… Where's Kai?" Cole broke off in annoyance. I looked out over the valley, then I saw Kai sneaking behind some boulders.

_Oh, Kai…_

"I'll go get him," I said, then hopped over the ledge and crept after Kai. The skeletons were numerous, but not very observant, so it was easy enough to avoid them, especially after I became invisible. Finally, I found Kai hiding behind a rock, waiting for a chance to run to Samukai's tower.

"Psst!" I hissed, tapping his shoulder. He squeaked and jumped almost two feet. Then, I remembered that I was still invisible. I fixed that little problem and waited for him to calm down.

"I know you're stressed, Kai, but we have to work together. This is the only way we can save Nya," I patted his arm gently. "Come on, let's wait for the others."

"There's no time to wait!" he said impatiently, dashing away. I sighed, then turned to find the others. At first I didn't see anything, but then I noticed an upside down minecart-with six boots of various colors underneath?

_Well, that was easy._

**(Cole's POV)**

Zane, Jay, and I were crammed into a tiny minecart so we could avoid the skeletons. This way we could reach Samukai's tower and hopefully catch Kai and Zora on the way there. However, this was probably not a good idea, as we had to stop multiple times and every single time Jay and Zane ran into me.

I peeped out through the small knothole in the minecart to see if we were safe to continue moving. To my horror, I saw a skeleton moving toward us. I tried to warn the rest of my team, but the skeleton was already there, lifting up the minecart.

_Oh, no, this isn't good._

I pulled out my scythe.

"Get back! I'm warning you!" I said (quietly, of course). To my surprise, the skeleton shimmered and turned into a familiar navy ninja.

"Sorry, Cole," said Zora, her turquoise eyes wide. "I wanted to blend in, and this seemed like the easiest way."

"You can use the power of form?" Zane asked, startled. She nodded.

"No, it's a good idea," I said, relaxing. "You just scared me."

"I surprised Kai, too—I was invisible and I tapped his shoulder," she said. I chuckled.

"I'd love to have seen that. Did you find Samukai's tower?"

"Yeah, it's over here."

She led us over to Samukai's tower, occasionally pulling us behind rocks. One time, we heard a pair of skeletons arguing about a rock shaped like a doughnut. One of the skeletons apparently bit it and lost a tooth.

_Jeez. How dumb can these guys be?_

Finally, we caught up to Kai and Jay smacked him upside the head.

"What's the matter with you?" he hissed. Kai pointed to Samukai below us. He had the map on a table.

Zora looked closely at the map. Then, she turned to us.

"He's reading it upside down! They're digging in the wrong spot!"

"But the Golden Weapon is still near," Zane added. He started to tie a rope around one of his shurikens, but Zora stopped him. She held out her hand and the paper rose up to meet it.

_So that's how she got my scythe…_

We checked the map and theorized that the Scythe of Quakes was in a nearby cave complex.

"There's no time to waste." Kai said, jumping off the tower. Jay looked at Zora.

"What's with that guy? Always in a rush."

"He wants to save his sister, Jay. That's all," Zora said, hopping down as well. We followed Kai at a distance. He even used a stone decoration to 'disguise himself'.

"Oh, Kai," I heard Zora whisper. She shook her head and jumped up after him.

When we finally caught up to Kai, he was attempting to move a gigantic boulder more than three times his size.

"Hey, before you run off again, you need to remember that we're a team." I scolded. He gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Whatever."

Zora walked over to Kai. She whispered something softly to him, which seemed to calm him down. Then she helped him shove the boulder away from the cave entrance.

**(Zora's POV)**

Inside the cave, the Golden Scythe was held suspended in what looked like the mouth of a dragon.

_Better not point that out to Cole._

Jay burst out with a shout of "That's so COOL!" that echoed throughout the caves. I cringed. This wouldn't end well.

"Not so loud!" cautioned Cole.

"Don't be so paranoid. We're totally on the opposite side of the caves." Jay scoffed. I huffed in exasperation.

"Just zip it, okay? Now that we've got the scythe, let's get out of here while those boneheads are still busy." Cole grabbed the scythe and wrapped it in a piece of cloth. As we walked out, I thought I heard a strange grinding noise behind me. I turned and saw the dragon's mouth widening. I hurried to warn the others.

"Um, guys…" I said, but then Cole ran into Samukai.

"Not again!" I said, then pulled out my sais and attacked.

The skeletons weren't very good fighters, so it was pretty easy to beat them. Also, my training at the Institute had made me an exceptional warrior. The skeletons were toast.

"Kai, throw it here!" I heard Zane call out. I turned to see Kai tossing the Scythe to Zane who was then mobbed by skeletons.

"Goin' long!" Cole yelled, catching the Scythe. I caught a pair of skeletons creeping up on him, so I snuck up on _them_ and sliced them with the sais, causing them to disconnect.

Then, I came face to face with Samukai. He was a much harder opponent than the other skeletons. Finally, I resorted to using my elemental abilities and caused plants to restrain him before I returned to the main fight.

"Guys! It's just like the training course!" I heard Jay shout. I took a closer look at the skeletons.

_Hey, he's right! All I need to do is dodge, roll, slice, leap. Dodge, roll, slice, leap…_

"Hey, that looks like…"

"Spinjitzu! Jay, Zora, what's the key?" Kai yelled.

I looked up for the first time and realized that I was in a navy blue tornado.

"I'm just going through the motions. This must be what Sensei meant when he said we already know it!" Jay answered.

"I get it! Over the planks, dodge the swords, here comes the dummy!" Kai spun into a fiery red tornado.

"Heh, he called you a dummy," I heard one skeleton say to his partner. I recognized them as two of the skeletons who had raided the 'Four Weapons' shop.

"No, he called _you_ a dummy," retorted the other.

"Why does it matter? You're both boneheads," I interrupted, knocking them both to the ground.

"I sense you do not stand a chance," Zane smirked as he threatened another group of skeletons.

"Retreat!" howled Samukai. We all spun out of our tornadoes and watched as the skeletons ran away.

"Guess they didn't want a second serving of these babies," Cole bragged, flexing his muscles. "Good thing they didn't check out the merchandise in the back!"

The others snorted with suppressed laughter, but I suddenly remembered the grinding sound and tried to warn the ninja-but Cole beat me to it.  
"Um, guys…"

I turned. Behind us stood a gigantic earth dragon. It glared at us with bright yellow eyes.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"You mean a dragon?"

"That sure looks like a dragon."

The boys were clearly terrified. I, however, gasped and said, "It's beautiful!"

I got some very weird looks before Zane said, "I sense we can't spin our way out of this one." We all started backing up.

"KAI WATCH OUT!" I shoved him to the side as the dragon let loose a blast of dust and rocks. The other ninja made it behind a boulder, but I did not. The dragon's breath knocked me out of the cave and into the sky.

_Oh, dear, this isn't good._

Then I hit the ground and everything went black.

**(Zane's POV)**

"Zora! No!" We all shouted as Zora got blown out of the cave by the dragon.

"How are we going to get out of here?!" Jay screamed, clearly panicking.

Then I noticed Kai undoing the cloth wrapping on the Scythe of Quakes. Cole saw it too.

"Kai, no! Sensei said not to use it!"

"Then you'd better stay out of the way." Kai thrust the scythe into the ground, causing the floor to shake and the ceiling to collapse. It temporarily buried the dragon, but the reptile started to shake it off.

"Let's go!" We used our Spinjitzu to get out from the cave through a hole in the ceiling. Sensei was awaiting us, but I did not stop to chat. I raced off to find Zora instead.

It didn't take me long to find her. She was lying near one of the towers—but there were two skeletons standing by her.

"Think the boss needs the girl?" asked one of them.

"Yeah, I think so. Pick her up."

That notion made my blood boil.

"I don't think so," I muttered to myself. I hurled my shurikens at the skeletons, knocking them to the ground and causing their bones to disconnect. Then I gently lifted the unconscious Zora.

I carried her carefully back to the others. Sensei seemed to be very angry at them.

"What did I miss?"

"Zora! You found her!" The ninja gathered around me as I set her on the ground.

"Is she okay?!" asked a terrified Kai. Before I could answer, Zora groaned and opened her eyes.

"Ow…"

"You're okay!" Cole said, relieved. She nodded, holding her head.

"Wait a moment," I said, keeping her from standing. "You could have a concussion or something similar." I carefully checked, but she seemed fine—which baffled me.

"I heal fast," said Zora, noticing my confusion. She seemed grim but that was understandable. I nodded and helped her up.

"Now," said Sensei, his eyes flashing, "It is time to go to the next weapon. Maybe next time you can do it right." He walked away, the rest of us following slowly.

"So, what happened after I got knocked out?" Zora asked me quietly. I gently patted her shoulder.

"Allow me to fill you in…"

**A/N: That's Chapter 3 done, and it's only one episode! (According to the original series, anyway) How are you all liking the story? If you feel it is a bit slow, I apologize. However, it should pick up fairly soon. Until next time, everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Hello, readers! It's time for you all to learn a little about Zora's past. The ninja, however, will have to wait a little longer.

Kai: Oh, come on! I want to know! I'm worried now!

Jay: Yeah, when are you going to tell us?

Zane: Brothers, you realize that whatever happened is probably very nasty? It is entirely possible that Emtress Bookwyrm could give us a very difficult time.

Cole: G-good point. Um, Bookwyrm? Are you planning to hurt us?

Me: TIme will tell, my precious ninja...hehe.

Ninja: *hide under blankets*

**(Zora's POV)**

After retrieving the Scythe of Quakes, we were on our way to collect the Shuriken of Ice. I wasn't sure where we were, exactly, but it was extremely cold and ice always coated the rails of the ship Sensei had somehow found for us.

Cole was at the wheel, and he was doing a fairly good job of steering. However, Jay kept distracting him with 'I spy'.

"I spy something...white,"he said. Cole groaned in exasperation.

"Can you pipe down? This ain't easy."

Suddenly, the ship shook violently, knocking Cole over.

"You okay?" I asked him, helping him to his feet. He nodded ruefully.

"I spy something...broken,"Jay said unhelpfully. I sighed, then I wandered over to Kai and Zane. Kai was shivering.

"If Sensei knows where we're going, why isn't he steering the ship? We've been drifting aimlessly for miles."

"Sensei's wisdom is beyond my own," Zane reminded him. I looked up at Sensei, who seemed to be meditating on that pole that sticks out from the front of the ship, the bowsprit.

"The most powerful move in Spinjitzu can only be performed when all four elements are combined," Sensei said suddenly. He jumped down to the main deck and began to move into different poses. "Earth! Ice! Fire! Lightning!"

"What happens when all of them are combined?" Jay asked, game forgotten.

"The Tornado of Creation-the power to create something out of nothing." Sensei made a cup appear out of nowhere. Kai started jumping around, mimicking the poses.

"No, Kai! If done incorrectly, it can lead to disastrous consequences."

"Disastrous consequences? Yeah, right." Kai scoffed. Then the ship ran into something and shuddered to a stop. Everyone but me was knocked over, and ice coated the sails.

"Um, wasn't me." said Cole, shrugging.

"Did I do that?" Kai asked, wide eyed.

"No. We are here."

As we hiked up the mountain, I began to see Skulkin frozen in ice. Clearly, we weren't the first ones here.

"Looks like someone's already been here," Cole said, echoing my thoughts. We continued on our way until we came to another dragon's mouth, this one guarding…

"The shuriken," said Zane, pointing to them. We lifted him so he could reach them, but he was covered in ice as soon as he touched them. Then the dragon woke up.

We ran, carrying Zane above our heads. However, part of the way down, we lost our footing and ended up riding Zane like a sled until we hit a wall at the bottom and the ice shattered.

"Ow."

Next up were the Nunchucks of Lightning. We ended up climbing a giant structure that coincidentally looked _exactly like nunchucks_. Halfway up, Zane looked down.

"We are being followed!"

After that, we hurried to the top, where Jay claimed the nunchucks and evaded the dragon with only a little extra hysterical screaming from Cole. On our way down, we saw the skeletons nearing the top, so we tried out one of Jay's inventions-gliders. Apparently, that was what he had been working on when he'd met Sensei. They burst open as we dropped through the sky, and they actually worked, taking us safely to the ground.

By that night, we were in the forest outside the Fire Temple, and the boys were all celebrating. Jay and Kai were dancing, Cole was playing the bongos, Zane was watching, Sensei was meditating, and I was in a tree.

"Sensei, Zora, come join us!" Kai called, laughing. I lightly shook my head, staring at the stars. It was so nice to actually be able to see them…

"There is still one weapon left! We must get our sleep." Sensei insisted. However, the boys were clearly not listening.

"C'mon, Sensei, you got to admit, we're kicking their bony butts," Jay laughed.

"Yeah, come up here. Show us some moves!" begged Kai.

Finally, Sensei gave up and stood.

"Well, I guess I could. Now, this move is very special." He raised one leg to the side.

"But if done incorrectly, will it lead to disastrous consequences?" Zane asked.

The entire clearing was silent, but then everyone exploded into laughter. Even me.

"Zane, was that a joke? Your sense of humor-you found it!" Kai gasped out, holding his sides.

Sensei then put his hands on his head, and he started to shake his...erm...rear end.

"Shake what your mama gave you. Look at this one now. Oof. Umm!"

He then grabbed his beard and started swinging it around.

"I put my feet…"

The boys nearly died laughing before they continued with their dancing. However, I was laughing so hard that I fell off the branch I was sitting. The others cut off almost immediately.

"Zora! Are you okay?" Kai asked, running over to help me up. I nodded, catching my breath. Then, I started laughing again. They all stared at me.

"W-what's wrong?" I said, trying to stop.

"We've never heard you laugh before," Jay said, smiling.

"Come to think of it, we've never seen you smile, either." said Zane.

"Oh." I stumbled over to another tree and leaned against it.

_What do you know? I am actually enjoying myself. Is this what it's like having friends? _

Soon the boys began dancing again, along with Sensei.

_Well, I think it is time for me to tell Sensei my history. I think he has an idea, but he should know about the Institute and what they're capable of._

As the night wore on, the boys slowly calmed down and went to sleep. Once they were all out cold, I walked over to Sensei.

"Sensei, may I speak with you?"

"Of course, Zora."

I sat down and told him everything. About how the Institute had gotten ahold of me somehow. How they ran thousands of tests and experiments on me to give me elemental abilities. How they trained me relentlessly in order to create the perfect weapon, the super-soldier. Sensei said nothing until I had finished.

"Sensei, if the Institute finds out where I am, they _will_ come after me, and they would be only too happy to take the ninja, too. They'll kill anyone who gets in the way. They will not let me go easily."

He nodded slowly.

"Thank you for telling me. I will begin to set up appropriate precautions for when we are not in the monastery. Do you plan to warn the ninja?"

"Yes, I do, but I don't know when I will. Or how."

He nodded again, then told me to get some sleep. I tried, but I just could not fall asleep. So I sat by the fire for a while.

_It's amazing how a person's life can change so quickly. Last week, I was on the run, homeless, and alone. Now, I have people who care about me, and I have an outlet for my abilities that doesn't hurt innocent people. Wow. _

After I had sat for a while without falling asleep, I decided to take a midnight stroll. As I got back, I heard someone saying Kai's name. It sounded like Nya!

I looked around, but I didn't see anyone except Kai-who was running after something. I tried to follow him, but I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around, drawing my sais.

"Samukai!" I growled.

"The one and only," he hissed, drawing all four of his swords. That's when I noticed that the boys (minus Kai) were currently being suspended above the ground with ropes, and Sensei was missing.

"Leave them alone, you sorry bag of bones!" I said, knocking away one of his blades. "Why does Garmadon want the weapons anyway?"

"He wants more than the Golden Weapons. He wants you, too!"

"What?!"

"Oh, yes. He thinks you will be quite an asset for him. The boys, however, are staying where they are."

_Oh really? You clearly don't know anything about me if you think I'll come quietly and without a fight. I've spent too much time in captivity, and I've gone too far to return to it. _

He gestured for his soldiers to hold me while he collected the weapons. That was a bit harder for them than they expected, since I was now fighting them tooth and nail. And I was a very good fighter-as evidenced by the many skeletons that I disassembled with various kicks, punches, and elemental attacks. Samukai finally had to knock me on the head with the Nunchucks of Lightning to stun me. I yelped as loud as I could, so that the boys would wake up. They did-especially after I shot an energy ball at them.

"What the… hey, let her go!" yelled Cole.

"Stop it, Samukai!" said a frightened Zane.

"Put us down!" That was from Jay.

"These belong to Lord Garmadon now," taunted the skeleton king. He turned to his lackeys.

"To the Fire Temple!"

However, a moment later, a red-eyed shadow appeared on the side of one of the trucks.

"My brother has taken the Sword of Fire to the Underworld. Quickly, bring the weapons! We must unite them!"

"Change of plans. To the Underworld!" Samukai called. He threw the weapons into a vehicle, tied my wrists and ankles, gagged me, and slashed my leg up the side. I grunted in pain.

_At least he didn't try to cut my leg off._

"ZORA! NO!" I heard as the trucks started up. Then we raced away.

The cars went very fast. Apparently, that was a necessary part of dimension travel to the Underworld. Samukai hadn't bothered to bind my leg, so I was losing a lot of blood-probably not helped by my whacking at various skeletons with my arms and legs, bound as they were.

After almost ten minutes, the cars started to slow down. I tried to turn, but I couldn't. Soon, I saw flashes of color at the edges of the road. Beneath me, I heard Jay's voice.

"Okay, that's why they make keys."

_They found us!_

A moment later, Cole leapt up onto the hood of the truck and started swiping at skeletons with his old scythe. Zane was bashing skeletons away from the car's controls. Jay came up to me and caught my arms, then pulled me up with him to Cole.

"You got Zora! Thank goodness!"

He started to untie my hands, but a Skulkin shoved him off the truck. I saw Zane flying off from where Samukai was. Then the car accelerated, knocking Jay off. Fortunately, he grabbed my hands and took me with him. We hit the ground as Samukai and his warriors drove into a portal to the Underworld with the Golden Weapons.

Almost immediately, Cole, Jay, and Zane were next to me, removing my bindings and gag.

"Are you alright?!" Cole asked, freaking out a little. I nodded, then winced as my leg twinged.

Zane noticed, then gasped when he saw the gash on my leg. He grabbed some cloth from his pocket and bound it up tightly. Then he helped me to my feet and allowed me to use him as a human crutch.

"We lost," Cole said, looking at the rock face in front of us. Everyone sighed.

"What about Kai and Sensei?" I asked. The boys shrugged, clueless and demoralized.

"Let us return to the Fire Temple," Zane suggested. We all agreed and slowly returned to the temple.

It took us a very long time to get back, mainly because of my injury. I said that it was alright, and I could move around on my own, but they were having none of it and insisted on helping me. Cole even carried me part of the way.

Finally we returned to the Fire Temple, but no one seemed to be around. Zane looked around.

"The sword of fire was here, as well as Kai and Sensei. But now I only sense loss...we are too late. The elemental weapons have left this realm. The end is drawing near."

"Great. The one place no mortal can cross over." Cole complained, sitting down on a step with me.

"We might not be able to cross over…" I jumped when I heard Kai's voice coming out of nowhere. Then I turned around to see the Fire Temple opening up. To my surprise, he was sitting on a dragon-with Nya! Cole shrieked in terror and hid behind a rock.

"But a dragon can!" I finished, smiling.

_Why didn't I think of that?_

"A-are you insane?" Cole said, stuttering. I pulled myself up and limped over to the dragon, petting it.

"Once he realized that we were trying to protect the Sword of Fire, he actually became quite a softie. Hey, knock it off!" he said as the dragon's head nudged him. Then he noticed the now-bloody cloth on my leg.

"Zora! Are you alright?! What happened?!" He started panicking.

"Samukai decided that he wanted more than the Golden Weapons," I said with a sigh. "I'll be alright."

Then Kai turned to his sister.

"This is goodbye, isn't it?" she said sadly. Kai nodded.

"Just come back to me in one piece, okay. I don't want to have to run the store on my own." Nya added. I limped over to her.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble," I said, patting her arm. Then I realized that all the boys were staring at me. "What?"

"Um, Zora, we think you should sit this out. You don't want to make your leg worse." Jay said nervously. I looked at them incredulously.

"But this is my fight, too. I want to help!"

The boys just shook their heads. I gave them a Glare of Supreme Death.

"This is because I don't have a dragon, isn't it?"

"No! We just don't want you to get hurt."

"I can fight, you know!"

That went on for a while, but eventually, the boys convinced me to stay with Nya. Then, the boys went off to collect the other guardian dragons, only stopping to drop Nya and I off at the 'Four Weapons' shop.

About two days later, my leg was already nearly healed. That had shocked Nya, but it relieved me.

_That's one of the only good things the Institute did for me-I heal very quickly._

She was waiting at the window by the candle she had lit the previous evening. I was sweeping the shop so that my leg wouldn't stiffen up. Then, I saw the clouds covering Ignacia start to fade. I knew what that meant.

"You're all right!" I called out, running with Nya to meet the boys. Kai was off of his dragon first and hugged us both.

"Hey, my turn!" said Jay, running over to hug us as well. That made me chuckle. Soon all of the ninja had come over and were celebrating their apparent victory over Lord Garmadon. Sensei was with them too.

"I'm glad you're alright, Sensei," I said, bowing to him. He nodded and smiled at me.

"Zora, your leg looks better!" said Cole, grinning at me.

"It is. I should be able to train within the next couple of days."

Then, Kai caught everyone's attention with his next words.

"It's not over. Lord Garmadon will return someday."

"But we'll be ready for him," said Cole.

"YEAH!" agreed the boys. They held their golden weapons together, but then they were thrown apart from the weapons' combined force.

"Um, maybe you shouldn't do that again."

"Yeah, let's stick to high fives from now on," laughed Jay, getting to his feet. After that, everyone gave up and just dissolved into laughter.

_Cole's right. We will be ready to face Lord Garmadon…_

_And I'll be ready to face my own demons._

**A/N: The prologue chapters are finally done! (For those who don't know the series, these are the two episodes where the ninja obtain their weapons and become a team.) Wow. Now that these chapters are done, the action should start picking up. Until next time, everyone!**

**Also, I found out that the correct plural of shuriken is simply shuriken, not shurikens. That has been corrected and will be correct in future chapters. Sorry about the mistakes.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Rise of the Snakes**

**A/N:** Finally, the true action begins! Also, in this chapter, the ninja will finally learn Zora's past, which they have been trying to discover for ages. (Boys! So nosy!)

Ninja: Hey!

Jay: Treat us with a little more respect, will you? You don't even have an elemental power!

Me: Oh really?! I have the power to make anything happen just by writing it, you rude ninja! I am perfectly capable of putting you through EXTREME TORTURE!

Jay: Umm…*runs for his life*

Me: DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO COMMENT ON MY LACK OF POWER?!

Ninja: *run away*

Me: Hmph. Wimps.

**(Zora's POV)**

It had been about a month since we had gone on the quest for the Golden Weapons, and everything had been quiet. This made the boys bored, so they spent most of their time playing video games (which were apparently all about killing things) or playing with their dragons. Cole had most definitely overcome his dragon phobia.

I had decided to do something resourceful and was working on the training course. My leg was perfectly fine by now, but I still wanted to condition it.

So, I put on some music (a recent discovery and one I quite liked) and started the course. I ran through it several times, then began practicing with multiple weapons (although I didn't really need to), and then did some Spinjitzu. As the song ended, I spun out of my tornado, did a couple of flips, and landed neatly on the ground.

I felt eyes on me, so I looked up to see Sensei and the other four ninja standing in front of me. The boys' reactions were priceless—Cole had wide eyes and was blushing a little, Zane was smiling, Jay was agape, and Kai was standing with his arms crossed, looking surprised. Sensei nodded in approval.

"Um, hi?"

"THAT WAS SO COOL! How do you do that?"

"I must say, that was very impressive, Zora."

"I think that was better than the first time you did the course."

"Seriously, how are you able to do that?"

"I'm used to this kind of physical training," I said nervously, hoping that they would stop questioning.

"What from? You've never told us," asked the ever-curious Jay. I struggled to think of an answer that would put them off, but I was saved by Nya's timely arrival.

"Guys! Lord Garmadon—he's returned! He was spotted approaching Jamanakai Village!"

The boys started panicking and running around as they tried to find their weapons. However, I already had my sais and was waiting by the dragon stables. Soon enough, the boys came running down, but they were still very clumsy. Zane was nearly crushed beneath the doors of the stable, Jay nearly fell off the mountain while trying to mount his dragon Wisp, Cole dropped his scythe while mounting _his_ dragon, Rocky.

_Ay yi yi…_

"Can I come, too?" Nya asked her brother.

"Sorry, sis. Where we go, danger abounds. This is a job for the ninja." Then he discovered that he couldn't reach his reins. "Um, a little help?"

I rolled my eyes and rose up, levitating a few feet above the rocky ground. When the boys were finally ready, I rose up higher and flew after the dragons.

_Thank you, element of gravity…_

"Do you believe what Sensei said about us finding our true potential?" Kai asked us.

"He may be onto something. I mean, since we got our golden weapons, it's not like we ever had to use them. I wonder what they do," Jay held out his nunchucks, swirling them around a little.

"Don't know about you, but is anyone else excited about battling Lord Garmadon? I've been wanting to try out some new Spinjitzu moves. It could be the perfect opportunity." Cole said.

I sighed, rolled my eyes so hard I thought I would sprain them, and sped down toward the ground, beating the ninja by several minutes. When they finally landed their dragons, they argued about who reached the ground first. I turned invisible and snuck up on them.

"Hey, where's Zora? She was with us earlier," said Kai.

I walked up behind them and simply said, "Right here, boys."

That terrified the ninja, and they all jumped at least a foot.

"ZORA! How long have you been here?!"

"Several minutes."

Then we heard screams coming from Jamanakai.

_Oh, dear._

We entered the village with weapons drawn. We heard a low, evil laugh echoing through the buildings, and a great shadow was visible against the mountain flanking the village.

"Stay sharp, everyone! Never let your guard down." said Cole, taking the lead. Then we saw a 10-year-old in a black sweatshirt waving his arms.

"I am Lloyd Garmadon! I demand all the candy in town—or ELSE! Mwah-ha-hah-ha-ha!"

"_Lloyd_ Garmadon? I thought we were going to face _Lord_ Garmadon!" said a disappointed Jay.

"It's his son. He must have escaped from his school for bad boys again." Cole said, swinging his scythe.

I felt bad for the kid. Yeah, he was acting up, but it was the way he had been raised, and I knew a little something about that.

_Matter of fact, the Institute wanted to make me a super-soldier for them. Compared to that, this kid is an angel._

As we approached the fountain, accompanied by angry villagers, we heard him bluster about releasing the Serpentine before opening a can and shooting out rubber snakes. That just made the villagers angrier, and they began to throw rotten produce at him.

"I-I asked for candy, not vegetables. I HATE vegetables!"

"He's going to have to a lot better than using old bedtime stories to scare people," said Kai, picking up a rubber snake. I watched him as he pulled it taut, then launched it into the crowd.

"The Serpentine are real, Kai. They are not something to be joked about." said Zane.

"Serpentine? Real? We're talking about the ancient race of snake people who once ruled Ninjago and were supposedly locked underground."

"Yeah, sealed in five different tombs to separate the warring tribes, and to ensure that they don't unify to exact their revenge upon those who put them there!" said a nervous Jay. I patted his arm.

"It's fine, Jay. That was years ago, they can't hurt you." I promised. He nodded gratefully.

"It's just an old wives' tale, to teach kids not to poke their noses where they don't belong. Don't you find it a bit suspicious that no one's found one of their tombs?"

"That's because you'd have to be a fool to look for one. If there was anything that I hated more than dragons, it was snakes." Cole commented. The four boys walked over to Lloyd, bodily picked him up, and began to carry him away.

"Nothing to see here, folks! We got this," said Cole.

"Release me, or suffer my wrath! I'll give you till the count of three: One, two…"

"Come on, guys, at least him walk on his own!" I protested, but they didn't listen.

_Typical._

"What should we do? Spank him?" suggested Kai.

"Two and a half…"

Soon, they had hung the poor boy from a sign as all the townspeople jeered at him. I walked up just as Zane was purchasing candy for us all. He handed me some chocolates and some mints-at least that's what I thought they were. I'd never had candy before, so I wasn't entirely sure.

"Next time, try paying for your candy," Cole said, looking up to the struggling boy.

"Crime doesn't pay, muchacho. You can take that to the bank." That was from Kai. Then Jay topped it off by eating some of his cotton candy and very obviously enjoying it.

_Boys! So immature!_

"Hey, Zora, you coming?" I turned to the boys, who were on their way back to their dragons.

"Yes, in just a moment. I'll meet you back at the monastery, okay?"

They nodded and left, and I waited for the crowd to disperse before approaching Lloyd.

"What do you want?" He was clearly sulking.

"To get you down," I said gently. Then I carefully lifted him off of the sign and lowered him to the ground.

"Why did you help me?" he asked, surprised. I took off my hood and smiled at him.

"Let's just say...you and I have some things in common." Then I handed him the candy Zane had given me and started off.

"Wait!" I half turned to look back at Lloyd. "What's your name?"

"Zora." Then I left for real and returned to the monastery.

When I returned to the monastery, the boys seemed to be in a bit of a bother, running around and gathering up armor.

"Hi, everyone. What's going on?"

"Oh, Zora, you're here! We found one of Sensei's scrolls, and it said that one of us is going to be the green ninja, so we're doing a tournament to see who's the best, and…"

"Whoa, slow down, Jay. What's the green ninja?"

"Apparently the green ninja is the one who's going to defeat the Dark Lord," said Zane, handing me the scroll. It had a picture of six ninjas: one red, one blue, one black, one white, one navy, and one green.

_Hmm…_

"So, Zora, you joining in or what?"

Before I could answer, Nya grabbed her purse and said, "I'm off to Jamanakai Village. Anything you guys need?"

"No, but thanks, Nya."

"I'll come with you, Nya," I offered. The boys looked disappointed, especially Kai.

"You don't want to see me mop the floor with them?"

"No, I'll go to Jamanakai. Tell me who becomes the green ninja," I said, waving as Nya and I descended the mountain.

After we had reached Jamanakai and had run all of our errands, Nya led me over to a shady picnic table so that we could chat for a while before returning to the monastery.

"So…" Nya's eyes had a mischievous gleam. "How have you enjoyed living with four teenage boys?"

I thought for a minute.

_I don't know. I've never had anything to really compare it to. _

"They're all very nice, much nicer than I'm used to. Why do you ask?"

Nya avoided that. "So, what do you think about everyone? Don't leave out any details!"

"Um, alright? Will you do that, too?" She nodded (a little reluctantly).

"Okay—first, Sensei. He is a strict teacher, but he has our best interests at heart and I learn a lot from him. Jay is one of the funniest people I've ever met, and he can make anyone laugh, even me. Cole is a good listener and he is very loyal. Kai is hot-headed and impulsive, but he is also a big softie if you get to know him. Zane is unique—there's something strange about him that I can't figure out. And you—" here I started to blush a little, "you're a lot like a sister, and you are most definitely one of the closest friends I've ever had."

"Aww!" Nya gushed a little. "Okay, my turn. Sensei is one of the greatest men I've ever known, and he's okay with me training, which I appreciate. Cole is a little intimidating, but he is a good guy. Kai is overprotective, but he is the best brother I could ask for. Zane is strange, but he is a gentleman and a great cook. Jay is funny, creative, charming...you get the point. And you are a bit too solemn in my opinion, but when you open up, you're a lot of fun to be around."

"Thank you," I said, a little surprised. I could feel my blush increasing. "So, why did you ask? Is it important?"

"Umm…" Nya hesitated, but was then cut off as we heard screams and saw villagers running into their homes.

"What is it this time?" Nya asked me. I shrugged, but we found out soon enough. Lloyd Garmadon was exiting the candy shop with a wheelbarrow filled to the brim.

"Take the candy! Take it ALL! Mwah-ha-ha-ha!" He was followed by blue-and-yellow man-sized snakes with red eyes.

_Hypnobrai. This is not good._

"Oh, NO. Nya, follow me!" I said, pulling on my mask and pulling Nya behind some crates, then led her to a small alley.

"Stay here until I get back," I told her. She wasn't happy about that, but she agreed with me in the end.

The Hypnobrai had started to hypnotize the villagers. So, I decided to hide behind an overturned cart to eavesdrop and see what I could find out.

"Thiss makess no sssense, General. Raiding an entire town-for _sssweetssss_?!"

"You will do as I command-becausse I hold the ssstaff!"

I pondered quietly. This wasn't right-from what I'd learned about the Serpentine, they were loyal to no one except their own generals, and they definitely wouldn't raid a town just because a 10-year-old told them to, especially if the only goal was to steal candy.

My ponderings were interrupted when I heard a soft slithering behind me. I turned invisible immediately. Then I moved from my hiding place and became visible.

"Attack!"

The snakes were pretty good fighters, but they were no match for me. FInally, a snake with a tail instead of legs (the general) caught hold of me and started to squeeze me. I tried to relax, as that was the best way to get out of a hold, but then the general attempted to hypnotize me.

_NO NO NO THAT IS NOT HAPPENING TODAY!_

I decided it was better to be a little constricted than hypnotized, so I tensed up and shut my eyes. I heard his hissing laughter as I did so.

"Zora!" I cautiously opened my eyes and looked to the side. It was Lloyd!

"W-what are you doing here?"

"Does it matter?" I sounded harsher than I meant to, but I was having some breathing troubles, after all.

Lloyd looked to the general. "L-let her go. She's...she's a friend."

I was shocked when the general nodded and released me from his grip. I stayed on the ground, muttering in annoyance as I massaged my ribs. Lloyd surprised me again when he ran over to help me up, collected his wheelbarrow, and returned to my side.

Just then, I heard someone call my name. I turned to see that the boys had finally arrived.

"The Serpentine? They're real?!" said a disbelieving Kai.

"Yeah, but that's not all we have to worry about. The whole village has been hypnotized," said Cole, worried.

Jay began to take out his nunchucks, but Zane stopped him.

"No. Our weapons are too unstable. We could do more harm than good."

"Well, I guess that leaves us with RUN!"

Kai grabbed my arm, and we followed the others onto a roof. Then I showed the boys the alley where I had brought Nya.

"Nya? It's me," I whispered. She popped out from behind some boxes.

"You're okay!" Jay and Kai said with relief. She nodded.

"Barely. If it hadn't been for Zora, I would have been caught easily. They've hypnotized everyone else in town."

"Mind control? How is this possible?" Jay asked.

"If you hear them rattle their tongues or their tails, don't look them in the eyes. Otherwise, they'll hypnotize you into obeying their every command," I warned. Then I paused. "The strange thing is, the Serpentine don't obey humans' orders unless forced to, so I don't know how Lloyd is getting them to do what he wants."

"Well, no matter how he did it, we need to stop him."

"Try to get the staff from the general-he's the one with the tail. If we get that, we can get the antivenom and save everyone," I said.

"Guys, let's forget about the whole 'Green Ninja' thing. Let's make Sensei proud-the five of us. We're a team."

"Now you're talking," Cole said.

"Finally," I muttered to myself.

"Oh, and Nya, you can be our honorary member," Jay added.

"Gee, _thanks_."

"Don't worry," I told her quietly. "You could probably kick their butts any day."

"Thanks, Z."

"Z?"

"A nickname."

"Hm. I like it."

The ninja and I hopped up to the roof, then split up to take on the snakes. Kai tried to use Spinjitzu, but ended up smacking into a wall instead.

"Okay, we're _really _out of shape," Jay said, facepalming. I silently agreed with that.

_That is why you train every day, you silly boys._

I used my gift of form to impersonate a Hypnobrai, than snuck up on a pair of them as they were sneaking up on Jay.

"It'sss rude to ssneak up on people. Didn't your mother teach you ssome mannerss?" I said, than I knocked them both unconscious. Jay gave me a thumbs up.

"Consider this a warning, ninja!" Lloyd yelled, running away with his spoils. I ran up, deciding to try to reason with him.

"Lloyd, I know that you feel that this is something you have to do, but trust me, it's not. Take it from someone with experience."

For a minute, I was certain I saw a spark of good in his eyes, and he seemed to listen to me. Then a pair of shuriken came flying out of nowhere. They froze the wheels of the wheelbarrow, knocking it over. Zane came over.

"Sensei was right. Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today. We should have dealt with you the first time around."

Then he turned to me.

"Zora, are you alright?"

"Yeah," I turned so that he couldn't see my face, but then I caught sight of Cole facing off with the general.

"Go ahead," said the black ninja. "Give me a reason."

The snake fled, leaving his staff behind. Cole grabbed it, but when he looked up, he saw another snake.

"Look into my eyesss…" the snake hissed. "I control you…"

_Not on my watch!_

"You...control…" Cole stuttered, but that was all he got to before I kicked the Hypnobrai warrior in the face. _Hard._

"Cole! Are you alright?" I said, shaking him. For a moment, I was sure I saw a flash of ruby red. Then it was gone, and he nodded.

I pointed to the staff. "You got it."

"So I did," he said proudly. Then I gestured towards the fountain.

"Try putting the staff in the fountain. That should release the antivenom."

"Good idea."

As he raced up to place the staff, I thought hard for a minute. That gleam might mean that I had been too late. I would have to keep an eye on Cole, and make sure he was truly okay. I would also need to tell Sensei of my suspicions.

However, that was a problem for another time. I walked over to join my team as the mist from the staff freed the villagers from their trances.

"We're sorry, Sensei. If we'd taken care of Lloyd before he became a problem, none of this would have happened."

"Even lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned, my students." The wise old man smiled. "Come, we must return to the monastery-there is much to teach."

The boys moved to their dragons, but I held back with Nya and Sensei for a moment.

"When am I gonna get my own dragon?" Nya complained. I smiled a little.

"Patience, Nya. Your time will come." said Sensei. We began the journey back to the monastery.

After we had returned, I was chatting with Cole about the 'tournament' they had tried to host while Nya and I were in Jamanakai. I was also trying to check his eyes for that odd red gleam. However, Kai came up and tapped my shoulder.

"Hey, Zora, could I borrow you for a minute?" he asked, looking a little uncomfortable. I nodded, waved to Cole, and followed Kai to an unoccupied room.

"So, what's the matter?" I asked, patting the ground next to me. He sat down and took a deep breath.

"Well, you see, whenever one of us asks about where you learned to fight, or about your abilities, you never answer. And we're all getting a little worried. Can you please tell me about what happened?"

I stayed quiet for a minute, feeling a breeze start up. Then, I thought I heard a faint creaking, and saw what looked like feet hovering outside the door. Clearly, there were some eavesdroppers outside.

_Well, I knew I would have to tell them eventually. Might as well get it over with._

"It's not a happy story," I warned Kai. He was insistent, however.

"All right," I surrendered. Then I took a deep breath and began.

"When I was little, I was taken to a secret research facility called the Institute-at least that's what I knew it as, it could have another name. I don't know how they got me, but I'm betting it wasn't legal. Anyway, the Institute wanted to create a powerful weapon for themselves, a super-soldier, if you will. So, they used me."

"That's horrible!" Kai said with a strangled gasp. I nodded grimly.

"They performed hundreds of experiments and ran thousands of tests—and that's only a slight exaggeration. They gave me all sorts of injections and treatments to give me my elemental powers. Unlike you guys, my gifts aren't natural. They were installed. And of course, after they had given me all these powers, they had to teach me how to use them, and they had to suppress them so that I couldn't use those abilities against them. You guys have asked me how I can be so good at fighting and physical exertion—well, that's how. I've been trained to be a fighting and killing machine."

I chuckled bitterly. Kai looked horrified, but he said nothing.

"Needless to say, my trainers—or tormentors would be more accurate—were not forgiving of the least bit of disobedience or failure on my part. So, they would use any means to subdue me."

I pulled up one of my sleeves and showed Kai the many pale scars that ran along it. There were several around my wrists from when I had been bound or shackled-which had been about half the time. Then I lightly placed his hand on my back, so that he could feel the thick scars there.

"Are those…"

"Whip scars? Yeah. But trust me, the shock collars were worse." I pulled down my sleeve and waited for Kai to remove his hand. To my surprise, he didn't, instead rubbing my back lightly.

"And…?" Kai said, looking like he was dreading the answer.

"Over the years I had been getting harder and harder to keep under control, so finally, the people at the Institute decided to go for more direct measures. They tried to inject me with something. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but I am fairly certain that it was meant to control my mind completely. They had me strapped to a table, just like so many times before, but this time…"

I cleared my throat, shuddering at the memory.

"I snapped. I just went absolutely berserk. I broke the straps and threw the 'doctor'..." here I made air quotes with my fingers, "against the wall, knocked out every guard in the room, grabbed a weapon, and ran. I used my elemental powers a lot—I guess in the heat of the moment, I managed to overcome the suppression drugs they put me on. Anyway, I ran like a madwoman throughout the building, attacking anyone in my way, until I finally came to the door and made it outside. I turned invisible and headed for the hills, so to speak."

I turned to Kai, whose jaw was hanging open.

"I was on the run for about a week, and then I finally made it to Ignacia, where I met you and Nya. I was planning to try and make it to a place where I would be difficult to find. But then Sensei came, and here we are."

Kai was pale.

"W-wow...I'm so sorry, Zora," he stammered.

"Why? You did nothing. As a matter of fact, you and the others are the first people to actually treat me like a person, and not like an inferior that you can manipulate, or a lab rat that has no feelings." I found myself tearing up. That was unusual, I never cried. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, trying to hold it in.

"Hey." I turned to look at Kai in confusion. Then, to my complete surprise, he hugged me.

"It's okay if you cry. I won't blame you," he whispered.

After that, I gave in and just let the tears come. That went on for several minutes, but I finally pulled away and wiped my eyes.

"I'm good now." I took a moment to compose myself, then gave Kai a weak smile. "Thanks, Kai. You make a good therapist." I then thought of something else.

"You know, before I met you guys, I don't think that I'd ever smiled, and I've definitely never laughed. You and the others are most certainly the best thing that could have happened to me."

Kai gave me another hug, which I accepted.

"Well, anytime you want to talk, just let me know," he said with a smile.

I nodded in agreement and went silently and carefully to the door. I definitely heard something on the other side. I stepped to the side and pulled it open.

To Kai's surprise, Jay, Cole, Zane, and Nya all fell into the room.

"You knew we were there?" Jay asked, sheepishly getting to his feet.

"Of course, I knew before I even started telling my story."

"Well…" Cole started. "We're sorry that you had such a bad past, but we want you to know that we're here for you."

I smiled, but then my face fell as I remembered something important.

"That's nice of you, but if the Institute finds me, they won't stop until they have me again, and they'll kill anyone who gets in the way."

"Then let them come," said Zane, coming up and laying his hand on my arm. "They will not succeed."

I laughed a little.

"Thanks, everyone. You're the best family I could ask for."

We all got a little emotional after that.

**A/N: Well, there you have it, another chapter done! Oh my god I am so sorry that this is so late but I was traveling and didn't have a reliable way of updating and I am so so sorry and I will do better in the future! (takes a breath) Yeah, so I kind of rushed with the editing, so if there are more mistakes than normal, I apologize.**

**So, now you know Zora's true story. Did you like it? Please comment and review! Also, I apologize if the last bit was overly cheesy. I couldn't help it. ;)**

**Oh, and I recently realized that I should use an em dash instead of the double hyphen. I apologize for the errors, and they will most likely be corrected in future chapters.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Home**

**A/N: **Hello, everyone! Here's chapter 6 for your reading pleasure. Please don't forget to review!  
Kai: BOOKWYRM!

Me: Yes?

Jay: You are sadistic! Why would you have something so horrible happen to Zora?

Me: It's a writer thing, Jay...we're supposed to make readers care about the characters, then we torture them. It keeps them reading—they have to find out if their favorite characters are alright in the end.

Cole: Um-are you gonna torture us?  
Me: *smirks* What do you think?

**(Jay's POV)**

It was about two days since Lloyd's attacks on Jamanakai Village, so the others and I were all training in the courtyard. Kai was doing Spinjitzu. Cole was whacking at dummies with his scythe. Zora was weapon training-at least that's what it looked like. I was practicing with my Nunchucks of Lightning-you'd think that they'd be easy to handle, but they weren't. I kept hitting myself in the face while I tried to deflect arrows.

And Zane? Our white-clad friend was meditating. I rolled my eyes and returned to work-until Zane jumped in front of me. I paused to look at him, and an arrow lodged itself in the lightning cord that connected my nunchucks.

I turned to see what else was happening. Zane had taken Cole's scythe, hit a dummy, and jumped away. Then he broke into Spinjitzu and froze the entire course, knocking Kai over. Zora managed to keep her footing, mainly by jumping up and re-landing on the ice.

_Man, she's good._

Kai and Cole came over to me. Zora was already close.

"This roof isn't big enough for the five of us," grumbled Kai.

"Correction. This roof isn't big enough for _him_." spat Cole. The three of us stared at Zane in annoyance. Zora simply continued training.

"It's like he's in his own world. I bet he can't even hear us!" I said, raising my voice. The white ninja gave no notice.

"C'mon, guys, that's not fair. I get like that sometimes when I'm training," Zora protested. She did a backflip and tossed her sais at a dummy. They both hit their mark, which caught everyone's attention. Even Zane's.

Sensei walked over to us.

"Sensei, Zane's weird." Kai started. Zora sighed.

"What is weird? Someone who is different, or someone who is different from you?" asked our teacher.

"No, he's 'weird' weird. One time, I was in the bathroom, and he just came in and started brushing his hair." said Cole. I stifled a giggle at that image.

"Yeah, and when Nya and I were watching a romantic movie the other day, he was laughing during one of the saddest scenes." I said, then became aware of Kai's glare.

"And when I went to get a midnight snack, he was sitting in the fridge eating a sandwich. In. The. Fridge. Does that sound normal?" said Kai.

"Hey, Zora, what weird things has Zane done around you?" I asked. She gave another sigh and turned around to face us.

"Nothing, really. He always acts pretty normal around me."

"He must've done something!" This was from Kai. I noticed he had a slight blush.

_Hmmm…_

"Well, it's his normal. I don't care if it's not mine," she said.

"Zane is a brother, and brothers are often different. I should know."

We would have continued, but then we heard the doorbell ring.

"MAIL!"

Kai, Cole and I ran to the door. Kai had a fan letter, Cole had a letter from his dad and a package, and I had a letter from my parents.

_Oh, boy. That's gonna be fun._

Then I realized that Zora and Zane were just standing around. I understood why Zora had no mail, especially after her confession a couple nights ago, but Zane…

"Hey Zane, how come you never hear from your parents?" I asked.

"I don't remember my parents. I've been an orphan all my life," he said sadly.

"You mean you've never had a home?" Zane looked even sadder.

_Nice going, Kai._

"The monastery is your home now," said Sensei, laying one hand on Zane's shoulder and one on Zora's. They both nodded, then went inside.

I noticed that Kai's eyes had followed Zora, and he sighed a little when she left. I smirked and nudged Cole.

"Hey, Kai, you're looking a little flustered. Could it be because you have a crush on Zo—"

"SHUT IT!" he said, looking panicky. "And I do not have a crush. She's just a friend."

"So you wouldn't mind if Jay or I asked her out?" Cole said with a smile, catching on to my scheme. Kai turned red.

"Don't. You. Dare. Ask. Zora. Out."

I snickered, high fived Cole, and returned to training. Kai groaned.

**(Zora's POV)**

"Hey, Zane!" I called, running up to him. I tapped him lightly. "Can I maybe cook with you tonight? I'd love to learn how to cook."

"Of course," he said, beaming. We both went to the kitchen, where Zane donned a pink flowery apron. I wore a light blue one and walked up to the counter.

"So, what's on the menu?"

"Let's see-how about a roast chicken, a soup, and some cookies?"

"I've never had cookies…"

Zane looked shocked. "Well, we can't have that. Here, let's begin."

It was a lot of fun cooking with Zane. He was always patient and was careful and exact about each step. Before too long, we had created a fine meal. Before I left, though, Zane offered me one of the cookies. It had little bits of chocolate inside and was very good.

"You can join the others, I'll finish up." said Zane. I nodded (still eating my cookie), took off my apron, and walked into the dining room.

"Hey, Zora. Where've you been all afternoon?"

"I was helping Zane cook dinner. And I tried cookies. They are delicious."

Soon, Zane came in with the chicken, set it on the table, and smiled at us all.

"Dinner is served."

To my surprise-and Zane's-everyone at the table started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" I asked, serving myself. Kai, unable to speak, pointed to the apron Zane was still wearing.

"I-I mean, even I wouldn't wear that," laughed Nya. Zane looked as baffled as I felt.

"You laugh because I take steps to ensure I am clean after cooking?"

"No, it's because you came out in that ridiculous outfit." Kai was holding his stomach from laughter.

"I guess we don't share the same sense of humor," Zane looked sad when he said that. I felt bad for him—besides, I didn't find it funny either.

"Here, let me show you something," said Cole. He shoved a plate of food in Kai's face.

"Hey, I was planning on eating that!" I said, peeved.

"How can you two not find that fun—AUGH!" Sensei had snuck up and poured the soup on Cole's head.

"Now, you are brothers."

A general food fight ensued, which annoyed me to no end. I did my best to save what I could, and put it in the fridge for later. Then I noticed Zane going outside, so I followed to check on him.

He was pulling off his apron and looking at it in disgust.

"We can clean it."

Zane jumped, but then smiled at me.

"Yes, I suppose so." Then he grew serious. "Why did they laugh?"

"I've got no idea. It wasn't that funny."

Just then, we heard a falcon's cry above us. We both looked up to see a black falcon on a branch above us. Zane cocked his head—and the bird mimicked his movement. Then he shifted his feet, and the bird did. To top it off, he started flapping his arms and shifting his weight from one leg to the other. The bird did the same thing.

"That's not normal," I said, suspicious immediately. Then, to our surprise, the falcon flew to a nearby tree.

"I think he wants us to follow him. Should we do so?" Zane asked me.

"Sure, but let's be careful."

We followed the falcon deep into the forest, and it took us a while before we finally got to where it wanted to go. In a clearing was a massive tree house, clearly still being constructed. However, I cared less about the tree house and more about the fact that it was filled with Serpentine, being directed by a 10-year-old boy.

_Oh, Lloyd…_

"If I see one girl in here, I'm going to go ballistic. Except maybe Zora."

Zane turned to me with confusion, but I just shrugged, bewilderment on my face.

_Why would he single me out?_

"Let's head back," I whispered. The ice ninja nodded, and we started to sneak back to the monastery.

The next day, we managed to convince the other three to come with us to the tree house. They were fairly skeptical, but at least they agreed.

"So tell me again how you stumbled across Lloyd's secret headquarters?" asked Kai.

"We followed a bird." said Zane. I assumed the explanation would be sufficient, but apparently not.

"Why did you follow a bird?"

"Because it danced." The boys looked fairly incredulous at Zane's casual responses.

"Okayy...Was it a cuckoo bird?" asked Jay. Kai and Cole found that particular remark quite funny.

"No, it was a falcon," I said quietly. The others turned to me. "And I'm sure that it knew exactly what it was doing. That was not a normal falcon."

"Besides," added Zane, "everyone knows that cuckoo birds are not indigenoius to these forests."

Jay, Kai, and Cole looked at us for a minute, then shrugged before continuing. Before too long, we had reached the tree house, where Lloyd was ordering the Hypnobrai around.

"Holy cannoli—Frosty and Zora were right!" Cole said. I chuckled under my breath as I watched Lloyd bully the snakes.

"We have to destroy that place before it becomes operational," said Kai. I nodded, then looked closer at the tree house.

"Are you sure? It looks like a pretty cool tree house. Look, a rope course—ooh, a tree swing!"

"Hey, remember whose side you're on." Cole scolded, smacking Jay upside the head.

"Owww! I was just saying…" Jay whined. I hid a laugh as I pointed to the tree house.

"Guys, it looks like the entire place is supported by those ropes."

"Yeah, you're right, Zora! If we cut those, the entire place will come toppling over like a house of cards!"

I looked at Kai and said, "No point of reference for that," at the same time Zane asked why someone would build a house of cards, as "such construction would be careless."

Kai sighed and said he'd explain later.

"Travel in shadows, boys," said Cole. I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"And girl," he hurried to say. I chuckled out loud at that before jumping over to the tree house.

As we made it to the tree house, we heard Lloyd directing a snake and peered down to see what was going on. The snake held a sign that said 'No Girls or Ninja (except maybe Zora)'

_Huh. Wonder why he keeps singling me out. And why does Kai look like he wants to murder someone?_

"What's wrong?" I asked softly.

"Nothing," said Kai, sounding strained. I nodded, not believing him at all, but putting it aside for now. Meanwhile, Jay, Zane, and Cole had each leapt to one of the trees suspending the tree house. At our nod, Jay started the action and used his Spinjitzu to cut the rope. The tree house shook so violently that Kai fell over. I helped him up, hiding a laugh.

Then Zane cut his rope and the building shook even more. This time, it knocked me over too. Below us, there was a lot of panic and commotion. Snakes were falling out of the tree house in droves and they were running in every direction.

"Cole! Wait 'till we're off the tree house, then cut the line." Kai called. Cole nodded, and Kai turned around. However, below us, I noticed an oddly familiar snake.

_Wait, isn't that the snake that tried controlling Cole at Jamanakai?_

Just then, I saw his lips move, like he was saying something to us.

_But there's no way any of us could hear him from this height—unless…_

_Oh, NO!_

I turned frantically, only to see Cole's eyes were a dull, pulsing red. He was bowing to the snake.

_Oh, this isn't good. I KNEW that something was wrong—AHHH!_

Just then, the tree house gave a violent shudder and I lost my balance, stumbling over to the edge before falling to the—roof?

"Zora!" The others had finally come down, but before they could come help me, Cole arrived and started swinging his scythe. One of those swings nearly hit me, but while dodging the swing, I fell over the side. Luckily, I grabbed the edge before falling over completely.

"ZORAA!"

_I am an idiot,I am an idiot, I am an idiot—why don't I just fly since I have every flippin' element—_

The boys were frantically trying to either snap Cole out of his trance or get to me, it was fairly difficult to determine which one. Jay even zapped him with lightning—although he seemed reluctant.

_Wait, I have the element of mind. Why don't I just use that? _

_Sheesh, where has my brain gone today?_

I stared at Cole, who hadn't noticed me yet.

_*Wake up, Cole. This isn't you.*_

_*C'mon, Cole, snap out of it.*_

_*We need you.*_

_*Cole wake up.*_

_*COLE IF YOU DON'T SNAP OUT OF IT RIGHT NOW I WILL PERSONALLY ENSURE THAT YOU NEVER TASTE CAKE AGAIN!*_

The threat of total loss of cake did the trick—or maybe it was my mental volume. Either way, he jerked his head a little and then shook it.

"Ugh...what happened...wait, where's Zora?!"

He turned and saw me holding onto the railing of the roof. Then he raced over (as well as he could, considering the shaking) and grabbed my hands, pulling me back up.

"Thanks," I said. Cole nodded. He looked like he was about to say something, but then Sensei and Nya arrived on Flame to bring us back to the monastery. As we flew over the woods, I noticed that Lloyd was in a cage.

_Poor kid—guess the Hypnobrai turned on him._

As we approached the monastery, I snapped to attention. The wind was coming from the direction of the monastery. I felt small flecks of something hit my face. When I took a closer look, I realized it was ash. And the wind was heavy with the scent of smoke.

_Oh, no...please don't let that be what I think it is…_

The monastery was on fire. Cole hurried to release the dragons while I started creating jets of water to put out the flames.

"Shard, put this out!" Zane called out to his dragon. With his help, the flames were soon quenched, and I summoned a wind to blow away the smoke.

"Our home…" Kai said, looking around.

"The training equipment...gone," said Zane, stunned.

"Our video games! GONE!" cried Jay.

"They stole their staff back," Sensei looked angrier than I had ever seen him before.

_Oh, those slithering, deceitful, double-crossing, black-hearted, no-good SNAKES!_

_As of now, the Hypnobrai are—oh, not again! Gah!_

I hastily started stamping on the small flames that had erupted on some of the less-damaged wood. The wind had also picked up considerably.

_I have GOT to work on my temper…_

"If you hadn't followed that silly bird, none of this would've happened!"

I turned at the sound of Kai's voice. From the looks of it, Jay, Kai and Cole were ganging up on Zane.

"Yeah, because of you, my high score has been deleted!"

I stalked up, annoyed but trying not to show it.

"Guys, I know that you're mad. I am, too. But Zane is not at fault here. The Hypnobrai are. And if you are going to blame him, you should blame me too. I went with him, after all."

The boys looked surprised at my words, then they simply continued with what they had been saying. I turned, exasperated, but then I noticed a black shape in the sky.

_The falcon!_

I quickly tapped Zane's shoulder and pointed to the circling bird. He saw the bird too, then gestured toward his dragon. As Sensei was scolding the other three, we clambered onto Shard and flew off, never looking back.

We followed the falcon for miles before we finally reached a vast desert. In between two sand dunes was a grounded ship. On the side it read, 'The Bounty'.

Zane and I explored the ship. There was just enough room for all of us, and they had plenty of conveniences such as water and electricity—although nothing was working right now, of course.

I managed to get things working long enough for Zane and I to make dinner. We made essentially what we had made the night we first met the falcon, except we also baked several pies. Then, we decided to wait for a little while before finding the others—mostly to let the pies finish baking.

"What exactly did you do to Cole back at the tree house?" Zane asked me conversationally.

"Um, I remembered that I have the power of mind so I mentally told him to snap out of it. I had to resort to threats."

"What threats?" He looked a little nervous.

"I believe my exact words were: Cole, if you don't snap out of it right now I will personally ensure that you never taste cake again."

Zane laughed. I ended up joining in.

"Are you sure it was the threat?"

"Eh, it also could have been the fact that I was mentally screaming that did the trick."

Before either one of us could say anything else, the oven beeped, we retrieved the pies, and decided to go find the rest of our team.

I rode on Shard again. Yes, I could've flown, but that takes a lot of energy. Besides, Zane didn't seem to mind in the least.

Lucky for us, the others were only about twenty minutes away by dragon. We landed a little way away and hiked up a dune to find them.

Nya saw us first. She called out our names and raced over to give us hugs. She was quickly followed by the boys.

_Hugs are surprisingly nice._

"Zane, we're so sorry! We're a team, and that means we're all responsible," Jay said. Zane and I looked at each other, baffled.

"There is nothing to apologize for," responded Zane.

"But what about all the awful things we said? Isn't that why you left?" asked Kai. I laughed as I finally figured out what they were getting at.

"No, guys. We left because I saw the falcon again, and we wanted to follow it." I said, patting Kai's shoulder.

"That's our team, all right," Jay laughed.

"We missed you guys," said Nya, hugging us again.

"Why? Is it our turn to make dinner?"

Everyone laughed at Zane's remark.

"Yes, we would love for you two to make dinner," Sensei said, looking relieved.

I smiled.

"Lucky for you all, we already took care of that. Follow us—we found something that I think you'll like."

The team followed us across the desert to the Bounty. Sure enough, they were quite happy. Especially after Jay mentioned pie.

"We probably made too many. There's cobbler-berry, myrtle-berry, apple...am I missing any?"

Zane shook his head, but it didn't really matter, since the rest of the team was already running to the ship, cheering. Zane and I hung back for a moment with Sensei.

"Hmm. I see you are finding your place here. I promise, one day we will find your families," Sensei said, putting his hands on our shoulders.

"I already found mine," Zane said, taking my hand. I blushed a little, then turned to Sensei as Zane asked his next question.

"Sensei, will Zora or I be the Green Ninja?"

"It's too early to say, but there is certainly something very special about both of you. Now come, it would be a shame to let them eat all that pie."

Inside the Bounty, another food fight erupted. Zane even threw a pie in Cole's face, to everyone's amusement. I had a feeling that we were being watched, but I put it aside.

I wanted to enjoy this time with my new family.

**(Cole's POV)**

After the epic food fight at dinner, I was helping to put plates away when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around quickly.

"Oh, hey, Zora. What's up?"

"I just wanted to check that you were alright after the whole episode at the tree house, and I wanted to thank you for helping me up when I nearly fell."

"Oh, I'm fine! And I owed you that after you snapped me out of that trance." I said sincerely.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, what was it like? Being hypnotized, I mean?" She seemed very awkward.

_Hmm, an odd question—although considering what she ran away from, it makes sense._

"I don't know if I can describe it," I said slowly. "You know when you're half asleep, and you're not really aware of anything except how sleepy you are? It feels a lot like that. It doesn't hurt or anything—it actually feels pretty good. At least until you realize that you've been blindly obeying another person's commands, anyway."

She laughed a little at that.

"And what woke you up?" she asked. "Was it the threat to take away your cake?"

"You threatened to take away my cake?" I was horrified. "You would do that to me?"

"It was an empty threat, meant to make you wake up," she assured. "But what did wake you up, if it wasn't my threat? Was it my volume?"

"I don't think so, but I couldn't really hear anything except that snake's voice. I honestly think it was just the sound of your voice." I blushed almost immediately, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I see. Well, thanks for telling me, and for the help at the tree house," She smiled a little, then came up and gave me a hug—which stunned me. Zora wasn't usually a hugger.

"Anyway, we'd better get some sleep. See you in the morning!" She waved a little and turned to leave.

"Y-yeah, good idea," I said, dazed. I was pretty sure my blush had increased.

_How does she do that?_

**A/N: Aaand we're done at last! Till next chapter, my peeps!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Snakebit**

**A/N: **Welcome to chapter 7, everyone!

Kai: Hey, Emtress Bookwyrm, can we ask you a question?

Me: *suspicious* Yes?

Cole: We were wondering if you could give us and the readers a little demo of your power.

Me: Are you sure?

Zane: Yes.

Jay: Besides, what's the worst that can happen?

Me: *grinning evilly* Famous last words, ninja… *creates a shadow monster that embodies the ninjas' worst fears*

Ninja: AHHHH! *flee for their lives*

Me: *doubled over, cackling* I-I did w-warn them…

Also, let me know in the comments if you guys want me to do a seperate story about the ninja and the mysterious shadow monster!

**(Zora's POV)**

"_Come on, girl. Time for your daily bloodwork."_

"_I-is that all?"_

"_Of course not. We also need to take more cerebral and spinal fluid extractions, and you have your fire tests today."_

"_N-no...please...I-I don't want to!"_

"_Do you think you have a choice?"_

"_AHH! Please s-stop...i-it hurts…"_

"_Will you cooperate now?" _

"_Y-yes…"_

"_You've been very difficult lately, Zora."_

"_What are you going to do? Whip me again? Use the shock collar?"_

"_No, I think this time we'll take more permanent measures."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_We've prepared a little something for you, my dear. It should put an end to these silly little outbursts. In fact, it should improve your cooperation enormously."_

"_What?! Why? WHY ME?"_

"_Shall we begin?"_

"_N-no...stop it! STOP IT!"_

"_W-what? But how...GUARDS!"_

"_We need backup in the medical lab, ASAP!"_

"_Well, well, well, what do we have here? You've been a tricky little thing, Zora, but it's all over now. Time to come home."_

"_I'm never going back!"_

"_You don't have a choice. Think your friends will save you? I think not."_

"_You MONSTER! Just wait until I get ahold of you!"_

"_Now, then, let's go. And don't worry—soon, you won't need to fear, or even think at all. We'll do all of that for you."_

"_No! Let me go! No! NOOOO!"_

I shot upright, panting, cold sweat streaming down my face. I looked around, but saw only the wooden walls of the Bounty and the sleeping form of Nya, my roommate. I slowly calmed down, my heart still racing.

_It was just a dream…_

Quietly, I got up, made my bed, and went to get my clothes from the drawer. However, they were all on the floor, as the wood had broken. I had a feeling that the Bounty would need a lot of work.

After that, I walked out to the deck and stood at the ship's railing, looking out over the desert. It was beautiful, with the sun just starting to peek out from behind the dunes.

I heard footsteps behind me, so I whipped around, pulling out my sais. Then I smiled and put them away again.

"Good morning, Sensei," I bowed respectfully.

"Good morning, Zora. You're up early."

"Mhm." We were silent for a minute, then I asked, "Are the ninja awake?"

"No. Would you like to wake them up?" he held out a gong.

"Sure, but I think I have a better idea of how to do it. We should wake Nya first, though."

After rousing Nya, I crept into the boys' bedroom, Sensei behind me. We were both wearing earmuffs. I had a portable music player that Jay had given me. I took it out, selected a song, and turned the volume _way_ up. Then I pressed play.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"WHO'S ATTACKING US?!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

"Evil doesn't sleep and neither should you!" Sensei said when they had all recovered. I was doubled up, laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

"All right, all right," said Kai grumpily. "But if you want us to reach our full potential, shouldn't we at least get a full night of rest?" he tried to pull up the blinds on the window, but they fell off completely instead.

"You call that rest? My back has more lumps than the mattress," Cole complained. I finally managed to stop laughing.

"Yeah, we were up so late talking about how cool it was to have a new headquarters, I guess we just lost track of time," said Jay. He turned on the facet to wet his toothbrush.

"Wait, Jay, there's no—" I cut off as Jay started sputtering. Instead of water, sand had come out of the faucet.

"Water." I finished.

"What will we be doing today, Sensei? Mastering the strike of the scorpion? Or perhaps the—" Zane was interrupted by the floorboards breaking and trapping him in the floor. I went over and helped to pull him out of the hole in the floor.

"I think today's lesson will be...chores." said Sensei. I nodded in approval, but the ninja were shocked.

"CHORES?!"

"Ninja fight, Sensei. They do not clean." said Cole. I sighed, and left the room to find Nya. I faintly heard Sensei say that he expected everything to be spotless upon his return. I went straight to the boiler room and used my water element to get the plumbing working. That took a while.

After fixing the water, I noticed the lights flickering on.

_Jay must have gotten the generator working…_

I went up on deck and pulled on a rope. The sails slowly unfurled. Then I conjured up a wind to blow away all the dust from the deck and sails.

When I got back inside, I saw that the boys had somehow managed to set up a video game system and were playing games.

"How did you even get those?" I asked incredulously.

"We have our ways," Kai said smugly. "You wanna join?"

"No thanks. Is the kitchen working?"

"Yeah."

I went to the kitchen and decided to make some cookies. They were very yummy, after all.

When Sensei and Nya finally got back, the boys were still immersed in their games, and I was taking the first batch of cookies out of the oven.

"Hey, how was it?" I asked, offering them each a cookie.

"It was fine," said Nya. She bit into her cookie. "Yum. These are really good, Z."

"Thanks."

"This place looks awesome. Did the boys help, or did you do it all yourself?" she asked.

"Don't worry, they did their part." Just then, the boys came in, drawn by the scent of cookies.

"Where were you guys?" Kai asked, quickly followed by, "Ooh! Chocolate chip cookies! Thanks, Zora!"

"No problem," I said, then noticed that Cole was attempting to put several cookies in his pocket.

"Cole, if you were going to eat them all, you could have just asked me to make you another batch," I said, going over and moving the plate of cookies.

"Would you make me a batch, Zora?" Cole asked, smiling. I nodded, and then offered to teach him how to make them for himself.

"You have exceeded my expectations," said Sensei, looking at the boys. "But can you keep it up?"

Just then, we all heard a loud honk. Nya went over to look out the window.

"Looks like we've got visitors—and loud ones at that," she said. Jay looked horrified.

"Oh, it's my parents! Please don't get them started, because if you start talking then they'll start talking and suddenly half the day is gone—"

"We get it! They talk a lot," interuppted Kai. Then I heard him mutter, "Cherry doesn't fall far from its blossom."

"I'm sure it'll be fine Jay," I said, offering him another cookie. He smiled gratefully and accepted the treat. Then we all trooped outside to greet them.

When we got outside, Jay's parents were examining the pile of junk we had tossed out, and his father apparently wanted to take it all back with him.

_Huh._

"Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?" said a falsely enthusiastic Jay.

"Oh my baby boy! We've missed you so much!" said his mother, enfolding Jay in a hug. I felt a little jealous, to be honest.

"I called you two days ago!"

"Well, it's not enough, son," said his father. "When are ya coming home to the junkyard, huh?"

_Junkyard?_

"Dad, can we please not talk about the junkyard in front of my friends?" Jay begged, blushing.

"Oh, he hates it when we tell people he was born in a junkyard," said his mother.

_Ah, that explains it._

Right about then, Jay's parents looked over at me and Nya.

"And who are you two? Oh, you are both so beautiful, you're just my son's types."

"MOMM!"

"I'm Nya, and this is Zora," Nya said, pointing to me. "I'm sure if you want, Jay would give you a tour."

I was about to contribute, but I checked my watch and realized that my cookies were still in the oven.

"Crap! The cookies! Be right back, everyone!" Then I ran as fast as I could without actually using the element of speed.

**(Jay's POV)**

I watched Zora run into the ship with a look of slight panic. It was hilarious. But I really couldn't blame her. I zoned out for a minute, but was brought back to earth by my dad's next comment.

"She bakes, too? Jay, you'd better hold on to her, she's a keeper."

"She's NOT my girlfriend!" I said, now feeling like I was on fire—a feeling accentuated by Kai's glare.

"Well, ask her out quickly son. Don't let her get away." he said, with my mother nodding.

"DAD!" I did my best to recover. "D-didn't you say you wanted a tour?"

Luckily, that kept my parents quiet for a bit—long enough for us to reach the kitchen, anyway.

"Cookie?" Zora offered from the table. She held out the refilled cookie plate to us.

"Oh, what a doll!" my mom said. I blushed again.

_Geez, Mom. _

To my surprise, Zora wasn't blushing all that much. She seemed to be taking it all in stride.

Then my parents began their storytelling, and I hurried them off by saying that we should continue the tour.

When we were just outside the door, my mom said, "Hon, where did she live before? Her parents must be wonderful people, and I'd love to meet them!"

_Oh no._

_I REALLY hope Zora didn't hear that._

_Oh, who am I kidding? She's got super senses or something. I'll send Nya or Kai to check on her in a minute._

"Jay?" My mom snapped me out of my thoughts.

"S-sorry. It's just—kind of complicated, and it's a very sore subject. Let's continue the tour, shall we?"

I caught Nya a moment later, and asked her to go check on Zora. I also promised to explain why later.

Naturally, my parents found it necessary to go over every embarrassing or personal moment in my life in great detail. My friends loved it. I knew I was going to get teased relentlessly later.

Finally, we made it to my current project, which my friends totally exposed and my dad tried to help with. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing mechanic, but I wanted to do this myself.

"Ed, Edna, it was a pleasure to hear about Jay's first potty time," Cole said, when we at last finished the tour and were slowly ejecting my parents from the ship. I needed to resort to the mention of Serpentine to get them to leave. I wanted them to be safe, of course, but I also wanted this day to end as soon as possible.

"If you liked that, you'd love the story about the time we caught him kissing his pillow," Mom said.

"Snakes, Mom. Snakes!" I said, desperate to head this off.

"All right, we're going. Call us tomorrow?"

"Of course, Mom. Your lights are working, yes?"

They proved that the lights were indeed working (by nearly blinding us) then they finally left. I heaved a sigh of relief, but it wasn't over yet.

"Now that they have left," Sensei began, "perhaps Jay can instruct us in the art of...kissing...pillows."

"ARGH!" I groaned as everyone erupted into laughter. I turned to leave, but then Nya ran up.

"Hey, Jay, I checked on Zora like you asked, and she said she was fine," she said.

_Of course she did._

"She also said she'd be in her room resting. I don't think she got much sleep last night." Nya continued. I nodded my thanks and left to check on Zora myself.

When I reached her room, I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. I peeked in and saw Zora on her bed. It looked like she was asleep.

"Come on in, Jay," she said. I jumped a little, then walked in and sat at the foot of her bed. She sat up and looked at me.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Aside from Nya and Sensei, your footsteps are the lightest, and your stride is unmistakable."

"Ah. Well, I wanted to apologize for what my parents said." I blushed a little. Zora looked as she always did when not actively smiling, which was essentially emotionless. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"It's fine, Jay. There's no way they could have known," she said, and gave me a small smile.  
"If you're sure…" I said slowly, not believing her at all. "Anyway, dinner is almost ready. You coming?"

"I don't think so, I'm not really hungry. But thanks for asking." She smiled again.

"Okay. Just let me know if you change your mind," I said, getting up. I was worried, but I didn't want to push.

"'Kay," Zora laid back down as I quietly left the room and shut the door. Then I went to dinner.

"What was that all about?" asked Nya as soon as she saw me. Unfortunately, the other ninja heard and crowded around.

"What was what all about?" Kai asked. Nya basically let the cat out of the bag, and soon I had three worried ninja pestering me.

"What's up with Zora? Is she okay?"

"I don't know," I said unhappily. "My parents made a remark about wanting to meet her parents, and I'm pretty sure Zora overheard it. We were right outside the kitchen."

"Oh, jeez," Cole said, facepalming. "No wonder. Is she alright?"

"She said she is, but I don't believe her. She said she wasn't hungry for dinner."

"But she's always hungry!"

"Exactly."

Sensei came over and told us not to worry too much, and Zora would most likely be back to normal in the morning. Then we had dinner.

At night, I wondered how the girls were doing. I got up, slowly tiptoed to their room, and peeked in. Nya looked alright, but Zora was tossing and turning. She was also muttering in her sleep.

_I didn't know Zora talked in her sleep._

I strained my ears, but couldn't make anything out. I sighed and went back to bed.

**(Zora's POV)**

The morning after Ed and Edna's visit, I woke up from another nightmare. So, like before, I got up early. However, I decided to cook instead of going out. Ever since Zane had introduced me to the business of making tasty food, I had been hooked.

I found one of Zane's cookbooks and flipped through it until I found a recipe for scones. They didn't look too hard. So, I made some dough and let it rise a little while I started to make bacon and hard-boiled eggs. Then I added blueberries to the scones and baked them in the oven before sprinkling them with sugar.

Sensei came in as I was putting the eggs onto a plate.

"Good morning, Zora. That smells delicious."

"Thank you," I said, using tongs to transfer the bacon to the serving plate, and turning to check on the scones.

Sensei went to wake up the boys while I finished making breakfast. They shambled in just as I was setting the table and bringing the food.

"Morning, Z," Nya yawned. "Did you make scones? They look great."

"And bacon and hard-boiled eggs," I said shyly. "Speaking of, does anyone have any allergies that we should know about?"

"Nope."

"I do not."

"I'm good."

"Me, too."

"Same here."

"Then bon appetit," I said, sitting down. We all stuffed our faces for a while, then continued to work on the Bounty. I was double checking the plumbing when I heard Kai say that he wished they had a place to store all their junk.

_What are they up to?_

"Hey, Dad!" Cole chirped happily as he passed by me, holding his phone to his ear. "Sure, I'd love to come and visit. What kind of a son would I be if I didn't?"

_Wait a minute… his phone isn't even on. What is going on today?_

_Oh...wait...are they doing what I think they're doing?_

"Ha ha," Jay said sarcastically, straightening up. He had been working on the 'button'. "I know I said I would visit my parents, but I've got a lot on my plate."

_Seems I was right. _

Before I could do anything, Nya walked by.

"Hey, Jay. Are you going to visit your parents?"

"U-um, yeah, I was just about to leave," Jay stammered. I hid a laugh and went to catch up to Nya.

"You do realize you got Jay to visit his parents just by asking, right?" I said, pointing over to the boys, who were glaring at Jay as he tried to remain cool.

"Oh, dear. Poor Jay," Nya said, then we both dissolved into helpless laughter.

After I had composed myself, I went outside to check on the dragons. They seemed listless and grumpy.

_I wonder what's wrong._

Sensei came out from behind Wisp with a large thermometer.

"It is as I suspected. The dragons are shedding their scales."

"Oh!" I said, finally getting it. "They're getting ready to become adults." Then I realized what that meant. ""That means they need to migrate to the Spirit Caves in the east, right?"

"Correct, Zora."

"Rocky's going east? Say it ain't so," said Cole, sadly nuzzling his dragon.  
"Well, I guess I've got to take this long walk all by myself. Sure would be nice to have company…" Jay said, looking over at Nya. However, all the boys ended up saying that they would come along.

"I'll come too," I offered. Jay brightened considerably. Then he brightened up even more.

"You can fly, right? Does that mean that you could take us all to the junkyard?"

"No," I said. The boys seemed surprised.

"Why not?"

I sighed a little. "Using the element of gravity takes a lot of concentration and energy. I can take myself for several miles, but I can't go forever. And the more weight I carry, the shorter the distance I can travel. Taking myself and six others across a desert would take a tremendous effort. I'm good, but not that good."

"Guess we're walking then," said Kai.

**(Kai's POV)**

_What a horrible day to lose our dragons._

Jay's parents lived very far away, and it was a hot day, so the walk wasn't very fun. Sensei kept playing a bamboo flute. Zora kept looking at it, then looking ahead with an unfocused gaze. Clearly, the flute was making her think about something.

"That flute. Is it special? You've been playing it a great deal." Zane said. Zora looked over.

"This flute is as old as the Serpentine themselves. It was made to combat their powers. There were once many flutes like this, but over time, Ninjago has forgotten its ancestors' wisdom, and now this is the only one left."

"I get it, I get it. Listen to your elders or else! Boy, you guys are laying it on thick," Jay grumbled. I facepalmed.

"Perhaps you are only hearing what you need to hear," said Sensei. I chuckled, then looked at Zora. She had become extremely still.

"Jay." She held up a hand for us to stop. "What is wrong with this scenario?" She pointed to the junkyard. We had finally arrived! But she looked suspicious.

"Wait a minute…" Jay came up closer.

"What's wrong?" Cole asked.

"It's quiet," said Zora.

"My family's never quiet," Jay agreed. He pulled down his hood. We all followed his example and raced into the junkyard.

"The fridge!" Zora said, running over to an old fridge kept shut by a sword. She jumped up and kicked it out of the way, and Jay wrenched the thing open.

"Ssweetheart, you came!" said Edna after Jay untaped her mouth. Zora cut the ropes binding her and Ed.

"You gotta get out of here, ssson. It'ss the ssssnakes!"

_Why are they slurring their words like that? And why do they have fangs?  
_"The Fangpyre!" I turned to Zora. She looked like she was about to kill someone.

"What are the Fangpyre?"

"They're another kind of Serpentine. Their venom can turn anything into a serpent. I'd say Jay's parents have approximately 2 or 3 hours left before the transformation is complete. If we want to stop it, then we need their antivenom."

"How do you know this?" I asked, amazed at how she was able to recite information off the top of her head.

"I have been educated, you know," she said, sounding mildly annoyed. I held up my hands in surrender.

"Just saying, this is really random stuff," I said.

"Oh."

Before we could continue, I heard hissing behind me. Zora's head snapped up, then she vanished. About two seconds later, a red and white snake went sailing over my head. I turned and saw Zora with her sais out.

"There's more where he came from," she said, pointing to a pile of junk. Snakes were creeping out, along with several weirdly animated machines.

_Why?_

Before we could start fighting snakes, we heard an evil laugh.

_Lloyd again. Gah!_

"Hello, uncle. Seems we're not the only family having a reunion. I'm glad you brought the ninja—I could use some help taking out the trash! Mwah-ha-ha! Oh, hi Zora!" He waved in her direction. I stole a quick peek at Zora—she looked baffled.

_What is with this kid and his obsession with Zora?! How did this even happen? Clearly it was unintentional._

"Watch out!" Zora pulled me to the ground as what looked like a wrecking ball swung towards us.

"Thanks," I gasped out, pulling us both back up. She nodded and pulled out her sais, turning to face the oncoming snakes and weirdly animated machines.

The snakes were easy enough to knock away, but the weirdly animated machines gave us some trouble. Then, we heard a loud clanking noise. A giant metal statue came out, and it was swinging nunchucks.

"It wass suppossed to be in your honor, sssson. Do you like it?" said Jay's father.

_Seriously?!_

"Thanks, but no thanks!" Jay called out as he dodged an attack from the robot.

"Hit the deck!" Cole called. The wrecking ball was coming back. When we all straightened out, I realized that we were down a couple of ninja.

"Hey, guys? Weren't there five of us?" I asked, looking around. I found Jay soon enough—especially since he was riding a wrecking ball. But Zora was nowhere to be found.

_Where is she?_

A moment later, my concentration was completely shattered when a blast of rock music boomed out into the junkyard. Lloyd was smiling smugly next to a snake radio and the Fangpyre General.

"Young nephew!" Sensei shouted. "Must I remind you whose side you should be on?!"

"Sorry, uncle. Can't hear you!" The little brat turned the music up louder.

A rattlecopter hovered behind the general and Lloyd. They hopped up and lifted into the air.

"There goes the staff," said Cole gloomily.

"It'ssss okay, son," said Jay's father.

Just then, Nya ran up.

"You guys do know Zora is with Lloyd and the General right now?" she said. I stared at her in shock.

"WHY?"

"She's trying to get the staff."

"We gotta go help!"

"Now would be a good time to have those dragons," Jay muttered. Sensei came over.

"All is not lost. Part of reaching your own true potential is finding your weapons' potential. With focus, their secrets and powers can be unlocked."

"Now is not the time to be cryptic!"

"I believe he's saying that our weapons are vehicles themselves," said Zane.

_How did he make that leap? Never mind—Zora could be in trouble!_

"Jay, focus on what is important right now. Imagine you're taking flight." instructed Sensei. The chatterbox closed his eyes and started twirling his nunchucks around. Pretty soon, he had formed a ball of lightning around him—then that became a fighter jet.

After that, we all took a turn. Zane and I had motorcycles. Cole had a huge car.

"I hate to say it, but I think Rocky's just been replaced!"

We zoomed out of the junkyard to pursue the rattlecopter.

_We're coming, Zora._

**(Zora's POV)**

During the junkyard battle, I turned invisible and crept up behind the general, then waited for the right moment. When the rattlecopter arrived, I hopped on with Lloyd and the snakes, then waited again.

We were about halfway to the Bounty when I finally made my move. I became visible and tapped the general on the shoulder.

"Mind if I borrow your staff?" I asked politely. I doubted he'd say yes, but it was worth a try.

"Why on earth—" said one head.

"—would we do that?" finished the other.

"Because if you don't, I will just take it like this," I said, making the staff levitate and floating it over to my hand. The general stared.

Before either of us could do anything else, something large and fast whizzed by my head.

"What was that?" yelped Lloyd.

"No idea," I responded. Whatever it was, it was coming back this way. I was so distracted with trying to figure out if it was a threat, I forgot about the staff—until the general took it back, that is.

_Stupid Zora. Stupid, stupid Zora._

A moment later, the thing flashed by again, but this time, I could tell that it was a plane piloted by none other than Jay. After he left, I noticed with glee that he had swiped the staff. But the glee faded when his plane suddenly disappeared and he began careening through the sky.

I rose up so that I could go help, but the general grabbed my arm.

"You are ssstaying here."

"We will usse you as bait—"

"—for the ninja."

"Nope." I sent electricity running through my arm, which forced the snake to let go. Then I jumped from the rattlecopter's platform and started to fly towards the Bounty.

It took me a while to find, but I finally saw the ship rising up out of the desert.

_Jay must have gotten the defense system working._

I landed on the ship's deck and walked inside. The ninja were gathered around the table, arguing about something. I also noticed that Ed and Edna were back to normal.

_Oh, good. One less thing to worry about._

"We gotta go back and get Zora," said Kai, sounding panicky.

"Why didn't you grab her when you got the staff?" Cole scolded.

"I'm sorry! I could only grab one of them, and the staff was closer!" Jay said, looking guilty.

"Relax, guys. I'm fine!" I said, coming out from the shadows where I had been lurking.

"ZORA!" I was engulfed by hugs from virtually everyone on the ship. Then we had ourselves a little party to celebrate our victory. I even had Cole help me with the cookies. (They were pretty tasty, for Cole) I also heard about the ninjas' new vehicles.

That night, after everyone was asleep, I stayed on the deck for a bit and pondered.

_Lloyd isn't going to stop releasing the Serpentine. That reminds me—I need to ask Sensei about that flute. If we're going to be fighting snakes, it would be prudent to have a backup flute in case something happens to the original. _

_Oh, well. That's for tomorrow, I guess._

**A/N: Just a warning: I'm going out of town for a few days, and school is starting in a couple weeks, so updates are going to get a little patchy. Please bear with me! :)**

**Also, this chapter was edited in a rush, so please be forgiving about mistakes.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Never Trust a Snake **

**A/N:** Hello everyone! Let's get right into the chapter!

Kai: Oi, Bookwyrm! Make those chapters a little faster, alright? Don't leave us hanging so much!

Me: Kai, school is starting. I'm going to go a little slower.

Jay: Come on, Bookwyrm! Don't waste time!

Me: Are you..._criticizing my time management skills? _Also, you don't go to school, so you can't talk.

Cole: Bookwyrm, seriously. Hurry it up.

Me: REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! *picks up chair and throws it, then grabs another*

Okay, now you should probably go read the chapter while I sort this out.

**(Zora's POV)**

As usual, I woke up before the rest of the team, and I went to grab a quick snack before going up on deck. Then I started punching dummies into oblivion.

It took forever for the rest of the ninja to make it up to the deck for sunrise exercises.

"What took so long?" I asked, walking over to the line.

"Zane was dreaming," Cole answered. I nodded, then snapped to attention as Sensei came out.

"Stretches. First, the swooping crane." he said, pulling up into the pose. I copied him perfectly, keeping focus. Around me, I could hear the boys whispering about Zane's dream.

"So what did you dream about?"

"The Green Ninja."

"THE GREEN NINJA?!" Sensei turned around at the boys' yell.

"That looks more like the shocked monkey. Bad form. More focus." Only Zane and I had remained in the proper position.

"You can't just drop a bombshell like that, spill the beans!" hissed Jay.

"Now, pinching crab." We shifted to match Sensei.

"Yeah, maybe it has some clues as to who's—ow!" Kai yelped as Sensei pulled his hair.

"What is so important that you ignore my teachings?" asked Sensei. I remained silent, still in position.

"W-we weren't talking!"

"We love your lessons!"

"Everyone was paying attention!"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

_They seriously think he'll fall for that? Sensei may not be able to read minds, but his senses are as sharp as mine. They're not fooling him that easily._

"Since you all are lacking in focus, save Zora, you all will share in the punishment," Sensei said.

"PUNISHMENT?!" The boys seemed shocked.

_Seriously? Why are they surprised?_

"No free time and no video games. The rest of the day may be used for training," our teacher continued. "Tomorrow as well, until you can solve this simple riddle—what is the best way to defeat an enemy?"

"Easy, a sword!"

"Your fists!"

"Spinjitzu!"

"Tornado of Creation?"

Sensei sighed. "You all have a great deal to learn. Sharpen your minds. Remember what happened to your weapons when you lost focus."

I tapped my chin for a minute.

_Hmmm... all of the guesses the boys have made are related to fighting… I bet the answer is something different. After all, there are many ways to defeat an enemy._

As the boys interrogated Zane about his dream, I thought about the riddle. Finally, I approached Sensei.

"I think I solved your riddle…"

**(Zane's POV)**

Jay, Kai, and Cole seemed most eager to hear about my dream. So, while Zora flipped a bo staff between her hands, I told them about my dream.

_(Zane's Dream)_

_BANG!_

_I woke with a start, rubbing my head where I had knocked it on the bunk. There was no one else in the room. I dressed and headed to the command bridge. _

"_The hunt starts early today," I remarked, seeing Nya and Sensei in the bridge. _

"_Evil never sleeps," said Sensei._

"_While Lloyd and the Serpentine roam freely, no one in Ninjago in safe," added Nya. I nodded in agreement._

"_Where are the others?"_

"_Training on the upper deck."_

_I ventured upstairs and saw Zora standing by the railing. She turned at the sound of my footsteps and smiled. I couldn't help but sigh—her smile was dazzling, and her laugh was like water in a brook. She was impossibly beautiful._

"_Hi, Zane," she said in that soothing voice of hers. "Want to join me?"_

_I nodded and made my way to the railing. "Where are the others?"_

"_Not certain." She shrugged lightly. "Perhaps they're eating breakfast."_

_I nodded. Then, we heard a clatter behind us and whipped around. The falcon was sitting on a crate._

"_Well, hello, my mysterious friend," I said. Zora wandered over._

"_What's he doing he—" she froze, and turned to face the railing. I followed suit, only to see Lord Garmadon clambering onto the Bounty!_

"_Lord Garmadon! But you were banished!" I said angrily._

"_Don't worry, I'm only here for the Golden Weapons. And the girl, of course," the Dark Lord said with an evil chuckle._

"_You'll have to beat us first!" said Zora, her smile gone. _

"_As you wish." The fight began._

_As usual, Zora's quick, agile movements confused her opponent—she was truly skilled. However, Garmadon finally managed to hit her with the flat of his sword, knocking her off balance. I raced to help, but in my distraction, my shurikens were knocked from my hands._

_We were cornered. _

"_Give me your Shurikens of Ice," he ordered. "And the girl."_

"_You'll have to take them from me." I snapped._

"_So be it," Garmadon leered. He took one of his swords and sliced a rope. A large crate came tumbling down. _

_However, a moment before it crushed us, it was lifted off of us by someone else._

"_The Green Ninja! The legend's true," I shouted. Zora nodded, a look of surprise on her face._

_Within a matter of minutes, the Green Ninja had knocked Garmadon off the ship, using a pair of nunchucks like Jay's._

"_Who are you?" I asked. The Green Ninja's fist was on fire. The falcon perched on his arm, and his eyes blazed._

_Another falcon swooped by._

"_Who are you?"_

_Soon the deck was full of falcons._

"_Who ARE you, Green Ninja?!"_

The boys were silent at the conclusion of my retelling. I turned to Zora. She gave no signs of having listened, but that did not mean that she hadn't heard.

"So I'm the Green Ninja…" Kai's dreamy musings interrupted my thoughts.

"You? Don't make me laugh," scoffed Cole. "He had super strength, which means that it's obviously me."

"Did you miss the part where the guy had nunchucks? I have nunchucks!" said Jay.

"I think you're all missing the point of this dream." I said. "You see, this is my dream, and the falcon came to me. Therefore, it seems logical that I will be the Green Ninja,"

"What?!"

"AS you are not training," Sensei's voice came out of nowhere, interrupting our debate. "You must have found the answer to my riddle."

"The best way to defeat your enemy is to train…?" Kai said uncertainty.

"Feeble and incorrect. Maybe more training will sharpen your minds. Zora has found the answer already." He left.

"Zora! What's the answer?" asked a desperate Jay. Zora merely shook her head.

I agreed with her—simply telling the answer would be cheating. However, the other three pestered her so much that she finally sighed.

"All right, I'll give you one hint, and no more: There are more ways to defeat an enemy than by simply fighting with them." She left after that, promising to make lunch.

"Gah!" Cole said, pulling out a staff and hitting the ground with it. "I hate this!"

"Zora was very kind to give us a hint," I said placatingly. To be honest, I was surprised she had done that much.

"Still!" Cole was clearly quite stressed. "If we're training, that means the enemy is playing!" He punctuated this statement with a solid thwack to the deck.

_How did he make that leap?_

**(Zora's POV)**

I couldn't help chuckling as I heard the ninja arguing about the riddle. Personally, I thought the hint I had given should have given them a better idea of the answer, but clearly not.

"You gave them a hint, then?" Sensei stepped out of the shadows as I entered the kitchen and began to pull out sandwich supplies.

"Yes, Sensei," I bowed. "I apologize if it was wrong of me, but they were constantly thinking it was about fighting, and they will go nuts if they don't get their video games."

"Fair enough. They still have not gotten close to the answer, however."

"Well, I tried to make it vague."

Just then, the ninja came barging in.

"We found the answer! It's one...two...three…"

"TEAMWORK!" The ninja put all their hands together.

Sensei looked over to me.

"Sorry guys, not the answer. Sandwich?" I offered them the plate of newly made sandwiches.

They huffily ate their lunch, but as they finished, the alarm bell rang.

"What's that?"

"Who cares? It's something else besides training!" I rolled my eyes at Kai's comment.

_Will they never learn?_

We all raced to the command bridge to hear Nya's briefing. Apparently, Lloyd and the Serpentine had been spotted at Darkly's Boarding School for Bad Boys.

"That place is a cesspool for the crooked and misbehaved!" scoffed Jay. I felt a twinge of guilt.

_I know how that feels._

"That doesn't mean they don't need our help, Jay," grumbled Cole. I nodded in relief.

When we arrived at Darkly's, we found ourselves faced with a problem. We had no way of getting down to the school. Below us, I could see the tiny figures of Lloyd and one of his Serpentine friends standing on the roof.

"Could we use our elemental vehicles?" asked Zane.

"Still working out the kinks on that," said Cole with a rueful smile.

"I got an idea," said Jay. I shared an _uh-oh_ look with Kai. I knew Jay well enough by now to have a good idea of what was going on in his head.

Sure enough, we ended up hanging on to the anchor.

_This is a bad idea._

"Nya! GIve us a warning before you pull that lever, okay?" Kai seemed nervous, and with good reason.

A moment later, she jerked the lever.

_I knew this was a bad ide—AHH!_

We all floated up several inches as we tumbled down. We were also all screaming...even me.

About two minutes later, we crashed down through the ceiling of the school and landed on the first floor—hard.

"Let's all agree to never do this again," I said, pulling myself up. The other boys heartily accepted. Then we rearranged our weapons and looked around.

We were in a classroom. Across from us, a group of students were tied up. And two Skulkin were hung upside down with tape on their mouths.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Cole sauntered forward with his scythe.

I walked over as well, grabbed a dagger from my pocket, and sliced apart the ropes.

"Go on." I gestured forward. "But be careful—there are dangerous snakes about."

They raced out of the classroom while I turned to face the Skulkin. I recognized them from the attacks in Ignacia. I metally checked to find out their names.

_Kruncha and Nuckal, hm?_

"Teachers, eh?" Without waiting for an answer, I continued. "I think it would be in your best interests to stay out of Ninjago from now on. Yes?"

They nodded frantically. I sighed and cut them loose. They ran out of the room like there were demons pursuing them.

"So." I turned to the boys and gestured to the stairs. "I saw Lloyd and one of the Serpentine on the roof. Let's go!"

Jay ran to the elevator, while Cole started climbing the chain and Kai and Zane ran up the stairs. I floated up and raced to the top.

"They're coming!" Lloyd was running around in a panic as I reached the top. I landed lightly behind the large snake.

"Anacondrai, huh?" They both whipped around to face me. "A risky choice, Lloyd. The Venomari or Constrictai might have been safer, but they are all treacherous. You can never trust a Serpentine, the Anacondrai most of all."

"You seem quite informed," said the Anacondrai. He bowed. "The name is Pythor P. Chumsworth. You must be Zora. Lloyd talks about you a great deal."

I raised my eyebrows, then yelled. "Lloyd, watch out!"

The snake pulled a map from Lloyd's back pocket.

"I-I thought you were my friend!" I felt so bad for Lloyd. I stepped forward and raised my hand to call the map, but the snake merely pocketed it before I could pull it towards me.

"Friend? All you wanted was to make the Serpentine your slave. Sorry, old chap." He slithered off. "Until we meet again, Zora."

Just as the Anacondrai left, the other ninja arrived, followed by Sensei and Nya.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon! You get over here right now!" Sensei pointed at his errant nephew.

"What will you do, Sensei? Make him wash his mouth out with soap for a year?" Kai was taking too much glee in this.

"Ground him indefinitely?" That was from Jay.

"Have him sit in the corner for a century?" Even Zane was in on it.

I gently grabbed Lloyd's hand and pulled off my hood.

"Don't worry," I hoisted him onto my back and walked over to Sensei. "I'll protect you from everyone."

"I know exactly what we must do," said Sensei grimly.

"Well, everyone except him," I amended.

As it turned out, Sensei's plan was to read Lloyd a bedtime story about a little rabbit who was tricked by a nasty serpent.

"And that is why Jack the rabbit never trusts a snake," Sensei finished. I was sitting with them, listening with interest, since I had never heard a bedtime story before.

"If I had heard that, I would have never had done all that stuff. I'm sorry, Uncle. Sorry, Zora."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Lloyd," I said gently.

Sensei nodded. "If your father was here, I'm sure this is the first story he'd read. Good night, Lloyd."

Sensei left the room, but I stayed for a minute.

"Zora? That day at Jamanakai, you said we had something in common. What did you mean?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow," I promised. Then I quickly kissed his forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Lloyd."

I quietly left the room to find four irritated ninja berating Sensei.

"Why isn't the little brat getting punished? We have to train all day, and he gets a bedtime story?"

"And a kiss? So not fair!"

"That reminds me. Why are you not still training? Have you solved my riddle?"

"No, Sensei. We don't know the best way to defeat an enemy," said Kai, defeated.

"Zora?" Sensei turned to me.

"The answer to the riddle—" I said, coming out into their view, "is to make them your friend."

**A/N: It's FINALLY DONE! I am so sorry that this chapter took so long, but it is finally finished. Also, school just started, so my updates are going to be pretty irregular for a while. I apologize in advance.**

**On another note, thank you so much for all of your support! It means so much to me! With that said, it is good-bye for now!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Can of Worms **

**A/N: **Alright, let's get going!

Lloyd: Woah, what is this place? And who's that?

Kai: Shh! That is Emtress Bookwyrm, the creator. Don't draw her attention, she's very touchy and quite dangerous. And as for where we are, we're...huh. What is this place called, anyway?

Me: *sneaking up behind them* This is Limbo, where the fragments of my stories wait to be completed and told. It is also where I kick the ninjas' butts on a regular basis. Welcome, Lloyd.

Lloyd: AHHH!

Kai: *after a yelp of surprise* Hi, Bookwyrm. *sighs*

Me: *chuckling evilly* I love this job.

Onwards to the story!

**(Lloyd's POV)**

I cackled evilly as I came inside from 'doctoring' Jay's robot. Uncle Wu had told me to pull pranks on all of the ninja. I was delighted at the chance to get back at them, but I felt bad about Zora. Also, I had no idea of how to prank her, so I had saved her for last. So far, I had beaten Kai's video game score, added spices to Cole's soup, put Zane's suit with Kai's in the laundry, and sabotaged Jay's robot.

_Now, what to do for Zora?_

I carefully stepped into her room. She was taking a nap. So, I carefully sorted through the papers on her desk, but found nothing I could use—until I saw her music player.

_Hmm…. I could blame that on Zane, maybe. Yes, that's what I'll do!_

I carefully picked up the music player and snuck out of the room. I was home free! Now all I had to do was assign the blame to the other ninjas and watch the chaos unfold.

I ended up blaming the video games on Cole, the soup on Jay, the robot on Zora, and the cotton-candy suit on Kai—but Zora was still asleep, so I couldn't prank her yet. I watched the ninja fighting with glee, until the door to the closet I was hiding in flew open...without anyone touching it.

"YOU DID THIS?!" The ninja were very angry, as Uncle and I had hoped. But Zora wasn't among them.

"He did." I squealed and looked around frantically for the source of the mysterious voice that had popped up out of nowhere.

Suddenly, the ninja started laughing. I looked behind me to see Zora, a slight smirk on her face, her music player in her hand.

"H-how? You were asleep!" I asked weakly.

"Actually, no, I wasn't. I heard you come in, and I read your mind to find out your plan. It was actually quite clever."

Kai chuckled. "She does that to us too. That's one thing about Zora—you can never tell if she's awake or asleep, listening or not listening. Her senses are also razor sharp."

"Can you even be pranked?" I asked her, a little sadly.

"Not that we know of," joked Cole. Then Zora pulled Uncle's lesson book out from her pocket.

_How did she get that? I had it in my pocket!_

"Interesting lesson, Sensei," she said, handing the book to my uncle. "But you might want to plan them using this from now on." She walked out to join the other ninja.

Before any of us could react, the voice of Kai's sister—what was her name? Oh, right, Nya—crackled over the intercom.

"If you're done playing around, we do have a snake problem. Over and out!"

Kai looked at Uncle Wu in annoyance.

"It's one thing to let the son of your nemesis live with you, but my sister? This is supposed to be a _ninja_ headquarters!" I rolled my eyes in exasperation, then chuckled at Nya's next comment.

"You _do_ know I can hear you, right? Over and out!"

Kai looked embarrassed. I laughed out loud, then followed the others to the command bridge.

Inside, Nya was waiting by a large map of Ninjago. Zora took one look at it, and chuckled.

"Nice work, Nya. We'll be there in no time." I looked at the others in confusion, but they just shrugged.

Nya gave Zora a resigned look.

"Did you already figure it out?"

"I have a few theories, that's all. But your map just confirmed it."

Kai interrupted. "Hang on. We don't know where the last two tombs are. We might as well throw darts at that map!"

"Good idea. Why don't we?" Nya smiled as she tossed three darts at the map. "These are the locations of the three tombs we've found so far."

"Show off," Kai muttered. I snickered. It was really fun to watch my enemies mess with each other.

"After ruminating on why the tombs were placed in these exact locations, I finally figured out that they all align with the Ninjago symbol for serpent." She projected a red snake onto the map. Jay walked up and pointed at the edges of the coils.

"So the last two tombs are here—and here! You are so smart," he said admiringly. Nya smiled, then turned to Zora.

"So, how did you figure it out?"

"Simple logic. So far, the Serpentine have been in very remote or inhabitable areas. We've had the mountains around Jamakai, which are dangerously cold. We've had the middle of the forest and the desert. There are two other such places in Ninjago that you could get to by walking or driving, which is how the Serpentine were trapped. Those two places are the Mountain of a Million Steps, which is likely the home of the Constrictai, and the Toxic Bogs, where we will probably find the Venomari."

Everyone stared. Then Uncle nodded.

"You are probably right, Zora. Cole, Zane, you will go to the Mountain of a Million Steps to check the Constrictai tomb. Kai, Jay, and Zora will go to the Toxic Bogs. Nya, Lloyd, you will remain here. But Zora, I would like to speak with you first." Sensei handed Cole his flute and took Zora to another room.

"Yes, Sensei," Nya looked sad. I was too, but I knew that Uncle wouldn't budge, and I wanted to look mature.

The other ninja nodded and raced off. I faintly heard Zane complaining about his costume, but I was distracted by Zora's return. She nodded to me, then went to join the others. A few minutes later, we heard them using their vehicles to get off the Bounty.

"Good luck, guys," I whispered, then went off to see what Uncle was up to.

**(Zora's POV)**

I followed Kai and Jay as we finally entered the Toxic Bogs. It was a surprising distance from the ship. Once they pulled to a stop, I flew down and landed lightly on a solid patch of ground.

"Watch out," I cautioned as Jay ventured near the bubbling pool near him. "That is acid."

"Yeah," Kai chimed in. He held a stick in the liquid, then pulled it out. It was all burnt. "This stuff will eat through you faster than Cole's chili."

We spread out and began to search for the tomb. I found it first.

"Looks like we're too late," I grumbled. Jay found the cavern's echo amusing. Kai wandered off in exasperation. I stalked around, reviewing what I knew about the Venomari.

_Let's see...hallucinatory venom, four eyes, amphibious, tolerance to acid, not as intelligent as the Anacondrai or Hypnobrai...wait._

_Amphibious. Tolerance to acid._

_Oh, NO!  
_"ARGH!" I whipped around. Venomari were rising up out of the acid pools. Kai had gotten hit in the eyes with their venom.

"Jay!" I called out to the blue ninja as I ran to Kai's side. He was cowering by a large rock, babbling about elves and gingerbread people.

_What?_

I used sound waves to blast away the snakes, then knelt next to Kai. His eyes had a glassy green haze.

"Kai, close your eyes," I said gently. He squeaked in fear and tried to move, but I held him down and covered his eyes with my hand.

"It's me, Kai. Don't think about what you're seeing. Focus on my voice instead. I sound normal, right?"

"Yes…" Kai still sounded terrified. Jay had finally gotten the picture and come over to us, and was keeping the snakes away while I attended to Kai.

"Yeah, we need you, bro!" He chimed in. I felt the red ninja calm somewhat.

"Here, Kai," I gently guided his hand to my face. "I'm right here. Do I feel like an elf or a gingerbread person?"

"N-no…"

"Sniff the air. Do you smell any gingerbread?"

He shook his head, calming down.

"See? Right now, there are Venomari snakes to fight, not little people. We'll be fine." I took my hand from his eyes. He still looked scared when he opened them, but he let me help him to his feet.

Right on time, Cole and Zane roared up to add their help.

"Anyone ready for a little kick-butt?" Cole shouted. His words echoed in the empty tomb, making Jay snicker. I rolled my eyes and pulled my sais out.

Then Pythor arrived.

_Of course. Where would they be without their psychotic leader?_

When Zane pulled out the flute, the slithering jerk took it.

"Let's not let music ruin this, shall we?" I quietly check to make sure that a secret project of mine was safe.

_Guess I'll be letting the ninja know about this sooner than I anticipated._

We were then herded onto a log that was pushed into the acid. I looked down in worry. Even I had trouble healing from acid wounds, and the others wouldn't stand a chance. I couldn't fly them to safety, since there wasn't a safe space nearby.

"Look, a flying rope! We can climb to safety!" said a delirious Kai. I gently kept him from walking off the log.

"That venom is powerful stuff!" Jay complained. I nodded grimly.

"Just for the record, it was great fighting with you guys," Cole said.

"Yes, it was an honor." Zane added.

"Same here," I said, distracted by the sound of an engine. Next thing we knew, a real rope was lowered. In the meantime, a large red mechanical samurai landed on the ground and fired a dart into Pythor's tail.

_A dart?_

When we were all on solid ground, we looked up at our savior.

"Santa?"

I sighed. _Poor Kai._

As I looked at the samurai, I noticed that the person inside the suit had a gold bracelet with a large red gem. I smirked.

_Hmm. Let me just...yep, I'm right._

Zane walked forward and bowed to the warrior.

"Thank you, mysterious warrior. I owe you my—" Before he could finish, the samurai sprayed him with a sleeping gas. I quietly took a deep breath, preparing to hold it.

"Hey, that wasn't nice!" Cole started forward, but the samurai gassed him and the others before he could do anything. I held my breath and summoned a wind to blow away the gas. Then, for dramatic effect, I transmitted directly into the samurai's mind.

_*Not bad. I'll be seeing you soon—Nya.*_

I then rose up, flying up to the ship that waited in silence above us.

**(Later)**

After the boys had woken from their gas-induced slumber (which took several hours) we all had dinner and discussed the new developments. Kai was still seeing things.

"And then this mysterious samurai swooped in and rescued us!" Jay finished.

"He was one hundred feet tall, and had swords all over his body!" Kai embellished. Then he leaned over and whispered to me.

"Look at Sensei's beard! It's moving like snakes." I sighed, then facepalmed as Kai put a prawn on his face. I gently swiped it off.

"When will that stuff wear off?" Jay asked, annoyed. I thought for a second.

"Not certain. An ordinary dose takes about eight to twelve hours to wear off naturally, and it's been about five or six, because you guys were out for a while. I'd say that without antivenom, we have two or three hours left at best. Of course, it might come out sooner. I really can't tell."

"Um, what's a samurai?" Lloyd asked shyly.

"The highest level of warrior class," I said promptly. "They were far more common in ancient times. They would fight fiercely and serve with honor on the battlefield. They were also the opposite of ninja, since they did not bother with stealth. We face others in combat only when we have no choice—which seems to be most of the time."

Everyone looked impressed. The Sensei brought the conversation to the sacred flute and learned it had been stolen.

"STOLEN?" He looked greatly distressed. "You five are Ninjago's last hope."

I quietly reached into my pocket, fingering my secret project.

_I think I'll tell them tomorrow._

Just then, the alarm blared. We raced to the bridge, where we discovered that the Serpentine were having a mass gathering. We suited up—Kai needed some help—and leaped from the Bounty.

"I love the smell of land hurtling toward you in the middle of the night, don't you?" Cole shouted. I rolled my eyes as I reached the ground, way ahead of them.

Once they caught up, we were bedazzled by Ninjago City. I was shocked. There were so many lights!

"Wow. I've always dreamed of being on a billboard here," said Kai. I turned in surprise. His eyes were back to their normal amber.

"Yeah, me too!" said Jay. I shook my head, then noticed steam seeping from a nearby manhole.

"Guys? I think I found the snakes," I pointed to the steam. Cole groaned.

"I hate snakes."

Turns out, the manhole led to a series of subway tunnels. Deep in the bowels of the city, we heard the hissing of hundreds of snakes. Then we saw them all.

"Enemies, friends, and enemies who pretend to be friends!" Pythor began. There was laughter as he began his speech. Suddenly, Kai lit up, as he ran forward.

"Follow my lead!" We followed, confused.

Pythor was just beginning his monologue about how they were going to punish the surface dwellers when Kai slipped behind the Hypnobrai and shouted, "That sounds like a great plan, but you know the Hypnobrai will screw it up!" I grinned in realization.

"Use today's lesson!" I hissed. The others nodded.

"Those buck teeth can bite my rear end!" Jay sassed behind the Fangpyre.

"I bet they're drinking their own venom!" said Cole, with the Venomari.

"All that digging must have given them dirt for brains!" said Zane with the Constrictai.

Finally, it was my turn. I shouted from the top of the railing. "Why is Pythor the only Anacondrai? Whatever happened to them could happen to us!"

We surveyed the havoc we'd wreaked with glee, before I noticed the ground shaking.

"Watch out!"

My warning came too late, as Kai was pulled underground, followed by Cole. Jay, Zane and I ran, but soon Jay was caught. Zane and I pulled ahead for a second, but I could hear them behind us. I looked around frantically, then saw a wall covered in pink paper. The paper was the exact same color as Zane's suit. I shoved him up against the wall.

"Don't move," I whispered, then took a battle stance. Much as I wanted to hide, I didn't want them to look too hard for Zane.

A Constrictai warrior popped up and grabbed me. I slipped out easily and hit him between the eyes. Eventually, however, they had me surrounded and dazed me enough to carry me back to the General.

Pythor was far too pleased with himself.

"So we meet again, Zora. I must say, I'm quite impressed." He slithered up close to me.

"I suppose you wouldn't consider telling me exactly what you can do?"

"Leave her alone!" I turned to see Kai and the others tied up. Pythor ignored them.

"Yes, what did they do to you, Zora? Or should I say—Project Alpha?" I froze. There was no way he knew about that.

"Oh, yes. I've done my research. I know that a _very _wealthy scientific research facility recently lost an experiment. A super-soldier with elemental powers. That does sound like you, doesn't it, my dear?"

I was seething. I shifted the chain on my hands. A strange buzzing filled my ears.

"They're looking for you, you know." Pythor smirked at my rage, but was interrupted by a yell of "Look, a pink ninja!"

"GO PINK NINJA GO!" the boys yelled. I didn't bother. I pulled at the chains, snapping them like they were paper. Then I rose up to meet Pythor's eyes.

"So you've won the night," he said softly. "But you'll meet your match in the Great Devourer!"

I was stunned.

_No way. That's suicide! Pythor you idiot!_

Just then, Zane called my name. I raced over to join them, giving Pythor one last seething look.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand!" joked the ice ninja. I tried to smile, but my mind was still reeling. As we left the tunnels (Zane and I covering them in ice as we went) I faintly heard Pythor's scream of frustration. It was a small reward.

_But at least now I know what we're looking for._

**Later that night **

**(Jay's POV)**

"Well, whether it was in a lesson book or not, we used the destructive power of rumors to our advantage," Cole said as we sat at the table with a midnight snack. I licked my lips in anticipation.

"And now the Serpentine are farther than ever from getting their act together," Kai gloated. Sensei cautioned us that it would happen, but I decided to worry about it later. After all, we had proven that we were pretty good in a fight.

"All thanks to Zane!" I said cheerfully.

"Don't thank me, thank Zora, Lloyd, and his laundry skills," our friend chuckled. "Zora found the perfect spot, and if Lloyd hadn't dyed my costume, it wouldn't have worked!"

Just then, Lloyd walked in, holding Zane's gi.

"It took me twenty loads, but your suit's no longer pink. And to say sorry, I brought you a can of nuts, Cole." He held out a can of cashews.  
"Ah ah ah. I know this trick. A bunch of snakes are gonna pop out. Sorry, kid, I'm not falling for that." He went to open the fridge, but was ambushed by rubber snakes.

We all cracked up, but then I noticed Zora wasn't there. I silently got up and went to look for her.

I came to the room the girls shared. I saw Zora lying curled up on her bed. She was talking to herself. I lurked outside the door, now worried.

"It's fine," I heard her say. "It's nothing. It-it was just stress. They're out of your life now, and if they come back, you can face them. They won't win. You'll be…" I heard her voice break. "Fine…everything will be fine..." I noticed she was shaking.

_Enough is enough. _

I crept in, but Zora snapped up. I was shocked to see tears falling.

"Oh god oh god oh god. How much did you hear?" She sounded like she was panicking.

"I was worried about you," I said, sitting next to her. "What's wrong? Is it something Pythor said?" I was willing to murder that snake if he was the cause of this.

"H-he knew about me. He c-called me Project Alpha," she sniffled a little.

"Project Alpha?"

"Me. It was what they called me at the Institute." she said shakily. I throttled down my rage and gently patted her back, trying to ignore the scars.

"Anything else?"

"Wh-when I broke the chains…" she paused. I remembered how she'd ripped the chains like they were nothing.

"That was epic," I said lightly. She shook her head.

"I don't have super strength, at least not normally. I haven't done that kind of thing since I ran away."

I was stunned.

"Well," I said, trying to think of something to cheer her up. "If they come near you, we'll beat them all to bloody pulp. And then dump the pulp in the Toxic Bogs."

"Jeez, Jay! Savage much?" But she smiled. I got up.

"Night, Zora. Get some sleep. I'm sure it will all look better in the morning," I said as I left. She nodded and laid back down. I went to tinker with some dummies.

_You're gonna pay, Pythor. And whoever they are, wherever this Institute is, they're gonna pay too._

**A/N: FINALLY! OH MY GOD THIS TOOK FOREVER! I'm sorry this took so long, but I underestimated sophomore year. I've been so distracted I haven't been able to focus on anything! However, this is now up. Also, I have a question for any of you with profiles of your own: how exactly do you see how many views, likes, favorites, etc. that you get? I don't know how :'(**

**Shoutout to phetiamwantip. Your support means so much to me, and it warms my heart that you take the time to comment every chapter.**

**Until next time, everyone! Please comment. I love you all!**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Snake King**

**A/N: **I'm back! I AM SO SORRY MY PRECIOUS READERS! Anyway, here we go!

Kai: Hey, Bookwyrm, we got a qu-*pauses* Uh, are you okay?

Me: *destroying everything within reach* HOW. DARE. THEY!

Ninja: *slowly back away*

Cole: W-what happened?

Me: *stalks over and shows them a certain comment* THIS HAPPENED!

Ninja: *read comment* They said WHAT?!

All: *destroying everything in Limbo except each other*

Lloyd: Hey guys, I wanted to- *sees destruction and backs away*

Enjoy the long-awaited chapter, everyone! Warning: For the sake of getting this published, it isn't well edited. I apologize for any mistakes.

**(Zane's POV)**

The morning after our most recent battle, I sat in the kitchen with Cole, Lloyd, and Kai, discussing battle tactics. Lloyd was describing what he would do.

"First, I'll stomp on his tail. Then, a thunderclap to his ears! And then when he's stunned, I'll disarm him!" Lloyd shouted.

"Too late, he's already hypnotized you and now you're under his control," Cole said with a small smile.

"Or he's already put you in a squeeze," I added, remembering the force of the Constrictai.

"Or spit on you with his hallucinatory venom. Trust me, bad stuff," Kai said, shaking his head. Sensei came into the room.

"Uncle, what's the best way to stun a Serpentine if you don't know what kind they are?" Lloyd asked. Sensei sighed.

"Unfortunately, it was the sacred flute you five carelessly lost." He sat down and poured himself some tea.

"Hey hey hey, we didn't lose it. Pythor stole it!" Jay defended. I noticed Nya and Zora coming in. Zora had a black box.

"Nevertheless, that flute was our best advantage. Without it, our task will be much more difficult."

Kai then piped up.

"Hey, what's that, Zora?"

Zora came over and handed the box to Sensei.

"This came for you."

"Ah, yes. These are your new uniforms." Sensei opened the box and passed them out. I looked at mine with delight. It was white with gold armored plates on the shoulders.

"Woah, these are awesome." Cole said.

"They're our favorite colors," Jay remarked.

"Love the gold highlights!" Kai said.

"The material is very light and breathable," I said with awe. Jay gave me a strange look.

"Thank you, Sensei." Zora said with a smile, that soon faded. "Also, guys, I have something I would like to tell you all."

Before she could continue, Nya ran in.

"Serpentine at Mega Monster Amusement Park!"

Jay looked at us.

"What do you think, guys? Should we try out the new merchandise?" We all nodded, except for Zora, who looked mildly embarrassed.

"Um, what's an amusement park?"

The others looked at her in shock, but we really had no time to explain, so we Spinjitzu-ed into our new uniforms, which fit perfectly. Mine had a plaid strip across it that could hold weapons. The others had strips of leather. Our uniforms were in our individual colors, and each one had silver or gold highlights.

"Love the new uniforms!" Jay said. Zora, however, wasted no time, flying into the air and setting off towards the amusement park. We all summoned our vehicles and followed.

When we arrived at the amusement park, we were definitely ready for battle, but we found the Serpentine tied up and people gossiping about some kind of samurai. Apparently, this samurai was also stealing our fans. I appreciated the help, but even I didn't like how they were stealing our jobs and our attention. Even Nya had seen it.

"Argh!" Kai shouted once we were away from the crowd. Zora had been dragged off by Nya so she could actually experience an amusement park.

"Agreed. This samurai is stealing our thunder!" Jay snapped. Sensei came up with some cotton candy.

"Don't forget, a little competition is not always a bad thing. Iron sharpens iron." Then he saw the Ferris wheel. "Ooh! Ferris wheel!" He ran off, leaving us deeply confused.

Jay sighed. "But how are we supposed to compete? He's got all these cool gadgets…" Then a crafty smirk appeared on his face. "You know, I think that whoever is good enough to catch this samurai is the best out of all of us, yes?"

"I see," Cole said, smiling as well. "So, whoever unmasks this samurai is the Green Ninja!"

"I suppose we could try," I said. To be honest, I was a little doubtful, but I did want to be the Green Ninja. So our challenge began.

A moment later, Nya ran up again, dragging a very confused-looking Zora.

"ZORA HAS NEVER HAD CANDY BEFORE! HELP ME OUT HERE!" she shouted. Everyone's mouths dropped open.

"Let's get her to Lloyd," Kai said seriously. So we went back to the ship and Lloyd went into figurative conniptions after he heard about it.

It was extremely funny to watch.

**(Zora's POV)**

Lloyd decided to take me out to his favorite candy store. Then he introduced me to the sweets. There were a lot of them.

After about three hours, I was stunned that Lloyd had not fallen into a sugar coma yet. I, on the other hand, was rather hyper (and I had a nasty stomach ache). So I went outside and tried to channel my powers, which ended up with me nearly burning down the ship.

"What happened to you?" Jay asked, coming up as I put out the last of the flames.

"Lloyd and I ate candy for three hours. Help me," I said rapidly, floating into the air for no particular reason.

"Well, do you want to come with me while I try to catch the mysterious samurai?" he asked. I nodded rapidly, so he summoned his jet and flew off toward the railroad tracks. I had so much energy, I just flew.

When we approached the tracks, Jay surprised me by dressing up in a wig and dress and laying on the tracks. I burst out laughing.

"T-that is n-not going to fool the s-samurai," I said in between giggles. Jay scowled, then smirked as he pointed to the oncoming train, and the samurai flying over. But the smirk went away after the samurai simply threw him over to me and flew off. I laughed again.

"Well, that failed." Jay grumbled as we returned to the monastery. The flight certainly helped to burn off some of the excess energy.

The next afternoon, I had just returned from a grocery run with Nya. The boys were sitting around a table, moping.

"I'm starting to think that whoever catches the samurai can be the Green Ninja for all I care. This guy is impossible to beat!" Cole griped. I rolled my eyes and sat down after putting the food away. Sensei came in as well.

"It seems iron is sharpening iron. I feel you are closer to reaching your true potential." He said.

"Hey, where's Lloyd?" I asked, looking around. The little rascal was nowhere in sight.

"I took him to the arcade, and Cole picked him up, right?" Kai said, looking over to Cole. Cole shook his head.

"It was Jay's turn…"

"Hey, don't bring me into this! My turn was yesterday!" Jay protested. I felt my blood run cold.

"Does that mean that none of you have seen him?" I asked.

"We must find him immediately!" our teacher said. I wasted no time and got to my feet, flying to the arcade. I wouldn't be able to fly back, though. Then I started looking at the security cameras. The boys caught up soon after.

"Find anything?" Zane asked, coming up behind me. I pointed to one of the outside cameras. Lloyd was walking out, but there were a bunch of Serpentine in the alley. Lloyd went back inside, then came out dressed like a Serpentine. He boarded a bus and left with them.

I took a deep breath.

_Okay, where would they be going? Pythor mentioned the Great Devourer—wait, that's it! According to legends, the Great Devourer was entombed in the Lost City of Ouroboros! So that's most likely where they are! And it's said that Ouroboros lies in the Sea of Sand! I know where to go! Thank you Institute! Never thought I'd say that..._

"Guys, I know where to go. We need to get to the Lost City of Ouroboros fast."

"Do you know where it is?" Cole asked hopefully. I nodded, then sighed.

"I don't know the exact location (it is the _Lost _City after all), but I have a good idea. However, it's far away, and I don't have enough energy to fly there. Can I ride with one of you?" The boys nodded.

"Sure! You can ride with me, the tank has more room," Cole offered. I nodded happily, though Kai looked seriously annoyed for some reason. Cole got his vehicle out and we both climbed in. We also took the lead, since I knew where we were going.

"So, how do you know all of this stuff about the Serpentine?" he asked as we drove along.

"The people at the Institute had a "school" where they taught me all these things, usually while the training courses were being rebuilt or I was recovering from something. After all, an uneducated soldier is easy to control but difficult to use. And besides, you always want to know about a potential enemy or ally."

"I see." We spent the rest of the ride in silence until I finally pointed up ahead.

"That's it." We pulled up just outside the city and waited for the others. Once they arrived, we snuck inside to see Pythor yelling at the snakes. Lloyd was in a cage nearby.

_DANG IT HE UNITED THE TRIBES! AND HE HAS LLOYD IN A CAGE! PYTHOR IS GOING TO DIE!_

Before we could do anything, however, the snakes saw us and dragged us into the center of their arena. I turned invisible and used the power of smoke to escape my captor's grasp and slink over to Lloyd. Before I could pick the lock, however, Pythor interrupted.

"Seems like we've caught the main event. I give you all: Ninja vs. Samurai! Only the winner will be allowed to leave."

Nya was shoved out in her exo-suit. I swore under my breath and ran to rejoin my friends, remaining invisible.

"What?! How are we supposed to beat him?" Jay panicked, ducking one of her thrown chakrams. I caught it before it could hit him from behind.

_Nya's acting is top notch. I'm impressed._

The boys decided to do the Tornado of Creation. I made myself visible and decided to help out.

"Need a hand?" I asked. They nodded gratefully and spun into their Spinjitzu.

"Earth!"

"Fire!"

"Ice!"

"Lightning!"

I wasn't sure what to yell, so I just shouted, "Power!" and joined the tornado. My force made it a thousand times stronger. Once we were done, we had a massive slingshot with a spiked ball. We launched it at Nya, knocking her down. But Pythor, being the slithering slime he is, decided to make things harder and literally tilted the floor after causing spikes to come out of it. We had to grab onto the spikes to keep from falling into the pit beneath us.

"Aw come one, why can't anyone play fair!" Jay ranted. I gave him a look.

"He's a snake. Snakes are not to be trusted."

"We must keep up the act that we are fighting for real," Nya said in her samurai voice. Jay looked stunned.

"This isn't for real?"

"Nope. Now, hold on to my exo-suit"

Everyone grabbed and held on for dear life, except me. I planned to grab Lloyd and fly away. The suit powered up and flew up, but staggered under the weight. So Nya bounded out. The suit flew away. Then Nya went to retrieve the Golden Weapons while I went to Lloyd. But Skales grabbed me and tried to hypnotize me. I shocked him into unconsciousness and looked to Nya. She had to get out of here and was waiting for me. So I turned to Lloyd.

"I'm so sorry, Lloyd, but I need to go. I swear I'll come back for you, even if it kills me," I vowed. Then I pulled my project out of my pocket and began to play on the replica flute I had made. And it worked perfectly. That was all I needed. I flew up into the air with Nya and we headed for the hills.

When we had made it part of the way there, Nya's suit began to stutter. So we made a forced landing nearby. She took off her helmet and emptied it of sand. Then we heard a gasp. I whipped around to see Kai.

"Stop, ninja! Don't look…" Nya said in her samurai voice, but then gave up. "...at me."

"Y-you were the samurai all along?" Kai asked in disbelief.

"Yep. It was always a boys' club, with the exception of Zora. So I found my own way to help."

"Wow, this is amazing! I thought I had to protect you, but you clearly didn't need it!" Kai said with pride. He hugged his sister.

"Girl power," Nya said bashfully, lightly punching her older brother's arm. There was an awkward silence before she said, "You won't tell anyone, right?"

"B-but we had a bet, that whoever found out who you were would be the Green—" Kai stopped at the look on his sister's face, then sighed and his shoulders sagged.

"Of course I won't tell. Besides, it looks like Zora found out first anyway." He turned to me. "How long have you known?"

"Since the incident in the toxic bogs. I recognized her bracelet." I smiled slightly. Kai rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Of course you did. Anyway, we'd better head back."

Nya handed him the bundled up golden weapons. I took a few of them (since no mortal may possess all four) and we hiked over the hills to find our teammates.

After we all regrouped and returned to the bounty, we ate dinner with Sensei and began to discuss the samurai again.

"He handed me the weapons and poofed. Never said a word." Kai explained. I kept my eyes on my plate.

"Why would he just give you the weapons, though?" Jay wondered.

"Maybe she—I mean he isn't so bad after all," Kai said hurriedly. I gave a small sigh and returned to my room, where I lay on the bed. A moment later, I heard a knock at the door. Based on the sound and the footsteps, I knew exactly who it was.

"Come on in, Zane." I said, lifting my head a little. Zane came in sheepishly.

"I will never get used to that." He came over and sat on the bed. "Is something bothering you, Zora? You've been very quiet."

"I miss Lloyd," I sighed. "He reminds me so much of myself it's scary."

The white ninja cocked his head. "I don't follow."

"He feels forced to be something he doesn't want to be. I feel that pain." I explained.

Zane nodded. "I see. But don't worry, we'll get him back. Especially now that we know what Pythor is after, since he was babbling about it when we showed up."

I smiled a little, then frowned.

_I hope he's not mad._

"Zane?" I said hesitantly. "I-I have something that might help." I pulled out the flute and handed it to him.

Zane was clearly shocked.

"Where did you get this?"

"I-I made it, but Sensei and I thought it was best to keep it a secret until we knew if it worked or not. Luckily, it does, so now I can make more."

Zane looked over to me and smiled gently.

"Well, I understand your reason for secrecy. Shall we show this to the others?"

The other ninja were perturbed that I hadn't told them, but they understood why and they were glad the flute worked. So that was a plus.

That night, I set the flute in the drawer next to my bed and thought about Lloyd.

_I promised I wouldn't stop until I saved you, and I will keep that promise. You'll be home safely, Lloyd. I know it._

But no matter how many times I thought about it, I still felt a chill run down my spine. I couldn't shake the feeling that things would get much worse.

_But ninja don't quit, do they? And I know I'll have a loyal family to help me._

**A/N: FINALLY DONE! My motivation has been completely gone lately, so I've been working on other things. Don't worry, I'm not giving up! **

**Just as a side note, when the last chapter was posted, I got a truly brutal troll comment. (As you might have guessed from the earlier A/N!) I'm fine now, but it really shook me up at the time and might be one of the reasons for my lagging motivation. As a reminder: Constructive criticism is acceptable, even encouraged. Hate and troll comments are not. If you don't like my stuff, just don't read it. **

**Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive and are so patient with my slowness. I'll try to do better (but no promises)! Again, I am so sorry for taking LITERAL MONTHS to post again, and I hope this chapter makes up for it. Until next time, my precious readers! And don't forget, stay healthy and stay home!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Tick Tock**

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter!

Kai: Bookwyrm…

Me: Kai, if this is about me being slow, shut up. I know.

Kai: No, actually, I wanted to mention….

Me: NO! It isn't even set in stone yet and...

Yeah, I'll explain that another time.

**(Sensei Wu's POV)**

I sat peacefully in my room, listening to the chatter outside.

"Ten minutes! He just broke his own record!" I heard Kai shout. I smiled indulgently. The boys had made a great deal of progress in the short time I'd known them. But would it be enough?

I turned my attention back to the katana laid across my lap. I gently ran my fingers along the edge of the blade.

_Odd, how such a simple thing could have such consequences…_

I was brought out of my musings by the boys barging into my room.

"Sensei, what does true potential look like?" Cole asked, before seeing the katana. He and the others bowed contritely.

"Our apologies, Sensei. We've disturbed you," Zane said. I sighed and turned to face them.

"I apologize if I've seemed distant lately. My mind has been elsewhere since Lloyd was kidnapped. What can I help you with?" I was fairly certain I knew what they wanted.

"What if we've trained enough? What if we've reached our full potential?" Cole asked.

"What if we're ready?" Kai chimed in. I chuckled slightly.

"Heh. You may have reached peak physical condition, but you are far from reaching your inner potential. In each and every one of you, there are obstacles waiting to be overcome. Only when you conquer these fears will your heart be free. Only then will we stand a chance of defeating the Great Devourer." I turned away, unable to suppress a shudder at the name.

"Sensei," Zane stepped forward. "There is more to this Great Devourer than what you have told us, isn't there?"

I nodded slowly and pulled out the katana.

"I too have obstacles within my heart. There is a story I've never told you."

The boys edged closer. I made a mental note to inform Zora next time I saw her. The poor girl had been as distant as I over the past few days.

"Long ago, Garmadon and I were more than brothers. We were the best of friends." I began. Jay interrupted immediately.

"Wait a minute. I know you were brothers, but really? The King of Cruelty, the Doer of Destruction, the Captain of Chaos… and you two were _friends_?!"

"He was not always like he is now," I said heavily. "Allow me to continue. One day, we were sparring in the monastery's courtyard when he disarmed me and this katana flew over the wall. Knowing that our father would be angry, he told me to retrieve it. Frightened, I refused. He told me not to put off until tomorrow what could be done today, and went to get it himself."

I took a deep breath, noticing how my charges were hanging on my every word.

"When my father found him, he was very ill. For he was bitten by a legendary snake, that would grow forever as long as it consumed. A great evil found its way into my brother's heart...for the snake's venom could turn the purest of things wicked. This snake is the same one that the Serpentine tribes hope to reawaken. That snake took my brother away from me." I finished with another sigh.

"So the Great Devourer turned your brother into the Dark Lord?" Kai asked with wide eyes. I nodded grimly.

"It was all my fault." Then I shook off my sorrow. "You five have finished your training. You now must stop Pythor from finding the four Fang Blades. But never lose focus on the obstacles in each of your hearts that keep you from true greatness. _Unlock your true potential_."

"But how do we do that, Sensei?" Zane asked. I smiled slightly.

"That is for each of you to discover. Now, I must go on a personal journey of my own."

"Where are you going?" Jay asked.

"Somewhere you cannot follow," I responded. I packed the katana into a carrying case and began to walk onto the deck.

"Sensei, if you're going for Lloyd, the Lost City of Ouroboros is filled with hundreds of snakes. You'll never do it alone!" Cole exclaimed.

"I am going to find someone who can be of assistance. The Serpentine have united, and we will need all the help we can get."

"Good luck, Sensei." Zora's voice came from behind me. I turned around in surprise. The navy ninja was sitting on the rail of the _Bounty_, holding something that gleamed in the sun.

"Thank you, Zora," I said, overcoming my shock. She smiled slightly and hopped down. Then she blushed a little.

"Um, do you think...Lloyd would like this?" she asked in a rush. She held out a small metal dragon. I took it with wonder. The dragon was impeccably crafted, with accurate detail.

"He most certainly would," I said with pride. "Did you use the element of metal to make this?"

She nodded shyly. I handed the metal dragon back.

"Did you hear the story I told the boys?" I asked.

"No, but I'm sure they will tell me later."

I nodded and gave her a quick hug. To my slight surprise, she returned it. I felt my heart grow warm.

"Good luck, all of you," I announced as I left the ship. The ninja called their well-wishes behind me.

_It's time. I can only hope that this will work._

**(Zora's POV)**

"Remind me again how hanging missing posters will help us find the Fang Blades?" I asked, looking at one of the posters with disdain.

"I agree with Zora. This seems ridiculous," Zane said, tacking up a poster.

"Do either of you have a better idea?" Kai huffed. I sighed and shook my head, then looked up as a falcon's shriek split the sky.

_Wait a minute...isn't that the falcon?_

I tapped Zane's shoulder.

"I believe we've got company," I said, pointing up. Zane followed my gaze. Then he stiffened in surprise.

"OI! Stop just standing there! You're making a mess!" An angry voice snapped us out of our reverie.

"Sorry, they're not usually this distracted," Nya apologized, running over and grabbing the posters we had dropped. I turned to the ninja in surprise.

"The falcon's back!"

"Wait, what?" Jay said, freaking out a little. "Everytime we follow that bird, something important happens!"

Kai turned to his sister.

"Nya, head back to the Bounty and wait for us. We're following this falcon."

"Who knows, maybe it will lead us to a Fang Blade!" Cole added. We all started running after the falcon.

Clearly, wherever we were going was far away. After almost ten minutes, Jay had to stop. We were starting to climb into the mountains.

"Go on...I'll catch up later," he assured. With a concerned look, I followed the others.

_I feel a little guilty that this is so easy for me._

We continued on our way, climbing the mountain as the terrain grew more rocky. Cole was the next to drop out.

"I'll just...wait here for Jay to catch up." he said, gasping for breath. I walked over and made a stone cup, then filled it with water and handed it to him. He gave me a grateful smile, then waved as I ran to catch up to the others.

"Good thing we're in peak...physical condition," Kai stammered as we continued. I had to agree. Even for me, this was becoming a bit of a strain.

Once we made it to the frozen woods, we ran into a sign that read 'Beware of Treehorns'.

"Wh-what's a treehorn?" Kai asked, looking at Zane and I. Zane shrugged and turned to me.

"I have no idea," I said, racking my brain. "I think one of my instructors mentioned them in passing, but I don't know what they are."

"So the infallible Zora is stumped for once?" Kai teased lightly. I zapped him a little.

"Let's just go." Despite my slight annoyance, I couldn't help but be amused.

Soon after we entered the forest, Kai paused, saying he'd wait for the others to catch up. Zane and I pressed onward, despite the fact that we were both growing tired. Suddenly, I had an idea, and wanted to slap myself.

"Zane, make your elemental vehicle. We can move faster that way," I said. Zane looked over in astonishment, then broke into a smile.

"Brilliant idea, Zora," he said. He created his motorbike and hopped on.

"Can I join you?" I asked. He started, then nodded quickly. I got behind him.

"Also, do you mind if I hold on?" I asked, wanting to be polite as I held my arms out.

"O-of course! I-I wouldn't want you to f-fall or anything," Zane stammered. I thanked him and wrapped my arms around his waist. We took off after the falcon, but to our surprise, it suddenly began to flap in place before falling to the ground.

Zane and I both jumped off of the bike and ran to the falcon's side. As soon as I touched it, it began to convulse...sparking at the chest?!

_What the frick?_

"You're a...robot?" Zane asked the falcon, horrified. He gently picked the bird up and extended one of the wings. There was an odd symbol engraved there.

"That looks like a maker's mark," I said, looking over Zane's shoulder. Before we could do anything more, we heard a loud clanking behind us. We spun around.

"Uh oh."

A gigantic copper robot was standing in front of us. A blue laser scanner shot from its eyes and ran over us.

"_Intruders detected._"

"We're not intruders!" Zane shouted, pulling out his shurikens. I followed his example, then turned to him.

"I'll distract the bot. You attack from behind."

"On it," Zane nodded. I quickly ran in front of the robot, throwing a rock at it. It batted the stone away and advanced on me. Then it started shooting lasers out of its eyeballs.

_Okay, that is just weird._

However, before the thing could fry me, it started..._dancing?_ I looked up to see Zane on its back.

_Oh, he must have damaged it. Thank goodness. But that is still a very strange sight._

Finally, the robot fell face first into the snow. I hopped up onto its back to join Zane. On the inside of the panel Zane had ripped off was the same mark that was on the falcon. I looked around, then tapped Zane's shoulder.

"Look." I pointed to a tree with the symbol carved into the bark. We both ran over. Zane pushed lightly on the tree, and a door opened.

"Hello?" Zane called out as we walked down the stairs into a basement-like area. I looked around curiously.

"It looks like an inventor's workshop," I commented. Zane nodded, then ran over to a nearby table.

"Look, blueprints for the falcon!" he said, holding them up. I came over with the limp falcon and handed it to Zane. After a few minutes of twiddling, it was as good as new.

While Zane was occupied, I walked around the makeshift lab, looking at things. Then, under the table, I spotted what looked like another blueprint. I picked it up and looked at it, then felt my jaw drop.

_No way._

"Uh, Zane?" I said, staring at the paper. "You might want to see this."

**(Kai's POV)**

"Where do you think they are?" Jay asked as we walked through the snowy woods. It had taken almost twenty minutes for them to reach me, and it had taken another ten minutes for us to get here.

"Um, guys?" Cole got our attention, then pointed to a clearing just ahead. A gigantic robot lay face down in the snow. We hurried over and looked at it.

"Hey, look over there!" Jay suddenly pointed at one of the trees nearby. To my surprise, it was...open? There was a door cut into the tree, and it was hanging wide open. We cautiously approached, finding a spiral staircase.

"Zane? Zora? Are you guys in here?" I called out. We slowly descended the steps. Sure enough, Zane and Zora were at the bottom. Zane was curled up in a ball, and Zora sat a short distance away, looking unsure.

"Are you guys okay? Are you hurt?" Jay asked, concern obvious in his voice. Zora looked up and beckoned for us to come all the way down.

"Not hurt, exactly." Her voice was quieter than normal.

"What happened?" Cole asked. Rather than answering, Zora crawled over to Zane and tapped his shoulder lightly. He slowly uncurled himself and nodded, getting to his feet. Then he untied his gi and tossed it aside, followed by his top.

"Zane, what are you _doing_?!" I squawked. But rather than answer, Zane instead consulted a small piece of paper he had clutched in his hand. Then, he set his other hand at his left pectoral muscle and pulled. A metal door swung open, revealing a complicated system of gears. Cole, Jay and I gasped in total shock.

"You're...a robot?" I stuttered. Zane looked totally demoralized. Honestly, I couldn't blame him.

"All this time, and I never knew," the white ninja said sadly.

Jay laughed awkwardly, clearly trying to ease the tension.

"Guess that explains why you were always so weird."

I elbowed him in the ribs. Zane _really _didn't need that right now. Then I stepped forward to try and remedy things.

"No matter what you're made of, you're still our brother," I said stoutly. Cole nodded his agreement.

"Yeah, you're still the same Zane. Just...more gears," he said nervously. Zora walked over and lightly set her hand on the white ninja's shoulder.

"Zane, being human is more than just being flesh and blood. It's also about your heart and soul, and yours are just as human as ours." She laughed humorlessly. "Trust me, you are a thousand times more human than those brutes at the Institute, and I know for a fact that they didn't have gears in their chests."

"Define _know for a fact_," Zane said, looking up. Zora blushed and rubbed her neck awkwardly.

"I...erm..._might_ have inflicted some injuries during my escape."

"_Might?_" Despite the situation, we all ended up laughing at that. Then Zane sobered up again.

"Apparently, the reason I had an odd sense of humor was because my 'funny switch' was turned off," he said. After consulting the paper (which must have been his blueprints), he opened a panel on his arm and flicked a switch.

His entire demeanor changed. Some random song suddenly played out of a speaker in his chest and he started dancing around, grabbing Zora and twirling her. He even dipped her.

_HEY!_

Before I exploded, however, Cole caught her wrist as Zane spun her, and managed to pull her to his side. I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Jay, of course, was cackling throughout the whole thing.

Zane flicked off the switch and collapsed with a sigh.

"My apologies, Zora. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable." he said sadly. Zora (though she still seemed disoriented) came over and sat next to him, lightly rubbing his bare shoulder.

"It's fine, Zane. It wasn't your fault."

We sat in silence for a minute.

"You know, I bet this makes you an even better ninja," Cole said, trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah, and how cool is it that I can honestly say 'My brother is a Nindroid?" Jay said awkwardly. I rolled my eyes in exasperation, but continued to talk to Zane.

"We need you, Zane. We'll never be able to find the Fang Blades or save Lloyd without you."

"Go on without me," Zane said listlessly. "I just...don't feel right."

After a moment of debating with myself, I reluctantly nodded. It would do no good to rush Zane, and it was best to let him process everything. Hopefully, he would feel better soon.

With a few more words of comfort, the guys and I began to scale the stairs. Zora held back for a moment, whispering something in Zane's ear, then got up and joined us outside.

"What did you tell him?" Cole asked curiously.

"I said that no matter what, I am proud to call him my teammate and my friend." She smiled slightly, then sighed. "I feel bad for him."  
"Yeah. I don't know how I would feel if I was told I was a robot," I added.

"Ah ah ah, you mean _Nindroid_," Jay corrected. I groaned.

"Whatever."

Suddenly, a loud rumble echoed through the forest. Zora stiffened, then drew her sais faster than should be humanly possible.

"What was that?" Cole asked nervously.

"Small...helpless...birds?" Jay said weakly. Zora stalked forward, clearly on the alert. She pulled her hood over her head.

"That was no bird," she hissed. Then she snapped around to face the robot and groaned.

"Oh, no. We're in trouble."

"From what?" I asked fearfully. But before I could answer, the trees started moving.

"Why is the forest closing in around us?!" Cole asked in a panic.

"That's not the forest. Those must be Treehorns!" Zora shouted. "The robot was supposed to protect the workshop from them!"

_Oh, crap._

I quickly drew my sword. Then I finally got a good look at the Treehorns.

They were incredibly odd. Their legs were as tall as the trees and the same color and pattern. They had large red eyes, manibles, and long necks; making them look like an odd cross between insects and deer.

"Kai, watch out!"

I leapt to the side after hearing Jay's shout, barely missing a Treehorn's leg. I spun quickly into my tornado, but it kicked me—_hard_. I fell to the ground and it put its leg on my chest, pinning me.

I looked around worriedly. Jay was literally being kicked around like a soccer ball; Cole was pinned like I was; and Zora had been knocked into a tree and was struggling to her feet.

_Ouch...that's a concussion at least. Possibly a couple of cracked ribs._

"LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"

I looked up awkwardly from my position, then grinned in relief. Zane had come barreling out of the tree workshop and was attacking Treehorns left and right. I slowly got to my feet and ran to the others.

"What's gotten into him?" Jay asked incredulously. I couldn't help but agree. Zane was going nuts.

"I don't know, but I like it!" I said. Zora nodded, then snapped her head over.

"Why are they leaving?" she asked. I looked around and saw the Treehorns backing away.

"Are they...regrouping?" Jay asked. A moment later, a trumpeting roar echoed through the Birchwood Forest and another Treehorn entered the clearing. This one was larger and the head was flatter. Said Treehorn also had _many _more eyes, kind of like a spider.

_Okay, that is creepy. Way too many eyes._

"What's that?" Cole shouted.

"Their queen," Zane said calmly. I stared at him. The white ninja strode forward until he was directly in front of the queen.

"Are you insane?!" I shouted. However, he didn't seem to hear me.

"Leave my friends alone!" he shouted up at her. She continued to advance on him.

"You will not hurt my friends! There is nothing that will hold me back!"

"_I KNOW WHO I AM!"_

Zane slowly rose into the air, a silvery light emitting from his body. It looked as though he were made of ice crystals.

"What's happening to him?" I asked slowly. "Did he reach his full potential?"

"He must have, because I've never seen a robot do that!" Jay said in awe.

"You mean...Nindroid," Cole corrected.

"Yeah...whatever."

"His past must have been holding him back," Zora mused. We all watched as he fired a beam of ice at the queen, freezing her solid. Then the glow faded and he fell to the ground.

"What...what happened?" he asked, slowly getting to his feet. Zora gave him a hand up.

"That was amazing!" I exploded.

"You should've seen yourself!" Cole added. Zane looked at his hands.

"This must be what Sensei meant about unlocking our hearts. I remember now," he turned to face us, a sad smile on his face. "I remember my father and how he cared for me...and I feel stronger for knowing."

"I'm happy for you, Zane." Zora said earnestly. I noticed that she looked...sad, almost. Longing. There was something else, too. Something I knew well, but was surprised to see in Zora, of all people.

Jealousy.

Then it clicked.

_She's never known her family, either._

"Well, I'm glad you're back, Zane." Cole said. "We've still got Fang Blades to find."

"You're right," Zane agreed. He pulled his hood over his face and turned to face the woods.

"Watch out, Pythor. We're coming to get you!"

_...Is he just saying that for dramatic effect here?_

**(Lloyd's POV)**

I shook slightly as I huddled in the corner of the filthy cage the Serpentine kept me in. I couldn't stop thinking about Zora's promise.

_She'll come back for me...right?_

I heard irritated hissing from the snakes around me. Then I heard muttering from the round table where the generals were speaking. I strained my ears to catch their conversation.

"Our troopssss are growing ressstlessss. They are beginning to doubt whether you know what you're doing!" one hissed at Pythor.

"I know, I KNOW! The stories say that when the five fangs unite as one, the path towards the Devourer is begun. We've united the tribes—so where is the answer?!" Pythor seethed. Then he grew distracted as the Venomari and Constrictai generals began to fight, tossing their staffs aside. I noticed venom leaking from them.

"Wait!" Pythor slithered over to the staffs, picking them up. Then he took the other three staffs and circled them around the table. Venom dripped and mixed as he set a paper down. To my surprise, an image began to appear.

"That's it! When the five fangs unite as one, the path towards the Devourer is begun! It wasn't talking about the five tribes!" Pythor shouted. "It's the venom in the five staffs!"

Moments later, he pulled out the paper to reveal a map.

"Behold! The locations of the four silver Fang Blades!"

I huddled more into the corner as the Serpentine erupted into cheers. I hid my face as I began to cry.

_Please hurry, Zora…_

**A/N: OH MY GOD THIS TOOK MONTHS! It's just been sitting in my drive, waiting to be finished! I'm sorry it took so long, and it might not be as true to the episode as some other chapters, but oh well.**

**While my focus has been wandering from Ninjago to other fandoms (Sanders Sides, primarily), I will do my best to get back in the habit of working on this story. Since I'm stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I do have a little more time on my hands. **

**As always, thank you so much for your support. Enjoy the chapter and stay healthy, everyone!**

*** As an unrelated note, to acknowledge a few comments: Full360, I have taken your suggestions into account. It might take a while for them to show up, but I will do my best (this chapter was completed before I read your comment, so...). Thank you so much for the feedback. And to answer your question, Mirage du Cheshire, my preferred canon ships are Jay X Nya, Kai X Skylor, and Zane X Pixal. I've only watched up to Season 5, so any characters introduced after that are kind of a blank. And as for this story, I haven't decided Zora's ultimate romantic fate. Part of the fun is her being utterly oblivious, so whatever it is will take a while. (But I do love your suggestion!) I will probably end up having Jay with Nya, however.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Frustration and Fear**

**A/N: **Alright, new chapter time. *Checks calendar* Well, what do you know? This one didn't take six months to write!

Cole: About time, Bookwyrm! It gets boring, just sitting here in Limbo!

Me: *sarcastic* Oh...I'm sorry, _your highness. _But I _do _have other passions and interests, ya know.

Cole: Shush. But I do have a question. Why isn't Zora ever here?

Me: *thinks for a moment* I...don't really have a specific reason. Let me get back to you on that.

***Warning: This chapter has some mild angst. (Reminder: Events in this chapter are fully AU.)**

**(Cole's POV)**

The air within the _Bounty_ brimmed with tension. Nya worked at the consoles, trying to find either the Serpentine or the Fangblades. Kai, Zane and I were running through the training course for the umpteenth time, while Jay worked on one of his training bots and Zora sorted through a box of weapons.

"Whatcha doing there, Zora?" I asked, pausing for a moment to catch my breath.

"Looking for a new weapon to train with, just for practice. Hmm...these will do nicely." She straightened up, holding a pair of kunai. Casually flipping the blades in her hands, she positioned herself about twenty feet away from a target and threw one of them.

"Aren't those...not weapons made for throwing?" Kai asked, coming up beside me. Zora nodded.

"Correct. They're best used for close-quarters combat, but they _can _be thrown. They were originally gardening tools, but they were later adapted to be used in climbing. That's one reason why the hilts are wrapped with rope and they have these large rings at the pommel." She paused in her training and came over to show us the kunai. "They could be used as pitons when scaling walls; it's why only the tip is sharp."

"Dang," I mumbled in admiration. "You know your weapons."

"Yes, well…" she trailed off grimly. With a shrug she returned to her practice, now stabbing the dummy fiercely.

Zane wandered over to join us a moment later.

"Zora, would you care to spar with me? I think that particular target is...quite handily defeated."

He wasn't wrong; Zora had practically reduced the entire thing to stuffing. She stepped back and looked at it critically for a moment, before nodding crisply.

"I don't see why not."

Kai and I backed up to give the two some space, but there was no way we were missing this. Jay even set down his wrench so he could watch the proceedings.

The white and navy ninjas circled each other warily, looking for an opening. Zora struck first; aiming towards Zane's solar plexus. He ducked under her fist and caught it in a simple block, twisting her arm behind her back.

Zora chuckled good-naturedly.

"Well done, Zane. But…"

She kicked him sharply in the knee, forcing him to back up and allowing her to free her wrist.

"That position leaves both you and your opponent vulnerable. You can choke off their breath, but if they have any smarts at all, they have many ways of causing you some serious pain. Such as stomping firmly on the arch of your foot. _That _is guaranteed to break some bones."

"Except I apparently have no bones," Zane said.

_Oh yeah...he's a Nindroid._

"Right…" Zora muttered, blushing a little. "My apologies."

"No worries." Zane waved her off with a smile. "I am still adjusting to it myself."

"You know what I just realized?" Jay said randomly. "It's kind of ironic that Zane is a robot meant to act like a human, but Zora's a human who people attempted to turn into a robot."

I facepalmed. Kai groaned just behind me.

_Wow, real smooth, Jay. _

The other two ninja were perfectly silent. Then, as one person, they both walked over to where Jay was standing and smacked him upside the head in perfect unison.

_Yeah, he kinda deserved that._

"OWWW!" Jay whined, rubbing the back of his head. "It was just a joke! Jeez!"

"I thought jokes were supposed to be funny?" Zora said icily. "Because that one certainly _wasn't._"

I raised an eyebrow. Zora usually wasn't this snippy.

"Okay, okay!" the clearly-idiotic ninja of lightning grumbled. "Lighten up."

If anything, that made it worse. Zora's eyes narrowed and I saw a faint flash of dark navy in her eyes. Thunder rumbled and the sky darkened.

_Oh, no._

I looked over my shoulder at Kai. He met my gaze, eyes widening with imminent panic.

"I'm gonna grab Nya," he hissed. "She's good at defusing tempers; I should know."

"Good call," I mumbled. "Might wanna hurry."

Kai wasted no time and dashed off while I returned my attention to the rapidly-brewing argument. Zane looked utterly bewildered. Not that I could really blame him.

"_Lighten up, _huh?!" The navy ninja hissed. Her hands clenched as she gave Jay the Glare of Supreme Death. "Easy for _you _to say."

Jay threw his hands up. "Seriously, Zora! It was just a joke, get over it!"

I cringed and covered my face with my hands. Then a loud _thud _startled me into looking up. My jaw dropped.

Zora had lunged at Jay and was currently pinning him to the deck while punching him over and over. Zane was attempting to drag her off of the squirming blue ninja.

"What's going on?!" Nya shouted as she raced onto the deck, Kai close behind her. They paused, assessing the situation.

It took several minutes, but Nya managed to pull Jay out of the line of fire while Zane managed to pry Zora off of him and spoke quietly to her for a moment. I checked on Jay while she was distracted.

The lightning ninja had blood trickling from his nose and what was promising to be a spectacular black eye. In all honesty, I was surprised that his injuries were so minor—the visible ones, anyway. Zora had been out for blood.

Nya fussed over Jay for a few minutes, then straightened up and turned around.

"Alright, where's Zora?"

Zane came over with a sheepish expression.

"I thought it would be wisest if she and Jay were not near each other at the moment, so I suggested she take a walk to calm down. The falcon is following her at a distance to make sure she's alright."

Nya nodded slowly.

"That was probably a good idea. Now then." She fixed us all with an icy gaze. "Who wants to tell me what that was all about?"

We were all silent for a minute. Then Jay decided to open his big mouth yet again.

"I made a joke and she just flew off the handle! I mean, you guys saw it!" He looked around at us. "I certainly didn't deserve an outright _attack!_"

"No, Zora definitely overreacted," I agreed slowly. "But it's your fault too, Jay. It's clearly a sensitive topic, and you kind of provoked her."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree," Kai mumbled. "Bringing up her past as a joke was pretty tactless."

"Oh, like you're a master of tact," Jay sassed. Nya groaned.

"I'm starting to see what happened here. Clearly, you and Zora need to apologize to each other, but that should wait until you've both calmed down."

Jay began to protest, but I took that as my cue to slip away and make my escape. Kai and Zane followed close behind.

"Hey, Cole," Kai whispered as we went to the bridge.

"Yeah?"

"Remind me to never make Zora mad like that."

"Truer words were never spoken." Zane agreed. I nodded, silent.

_Yeah...no kidding._

**(Zane's POV)**

It had been almost four hours since Jay and Zora's altercation. Jay was still sulking when Nya popped her head into the living room.

"It's almost dinnertime, guys. Whose turn is it to cook?"

"Mine," Kai said, setting down his game controller and standing up. "I'm making chili."

"Don't make it too spicy again," Cole grumbled. We all snickered at that. Then I sobered.

"Perhaps we should call Zora to come home," I suggested. This was met with a general chorus of assent, although Jay was still grumpy. I powered on my wrist communicator and called Zora. To my surprise, she didn't answer it right away as she normally would.

_That's odd…_

"She is not picking up," I said, looking up at the others.

"Huh. I'll try, I guess," Cole said, tapping away at his communicator. Then he frowned. "She's not answering me, either."

"Maybe we should look for her," Kai said, unease in his voice. Nya nodded briskly.

"Well, I can't go, since you guys need me on the bridge. Jay can't go for obvious reasons." We all winced a little. "And Kai needs to cook dinner. Cole, Zane, can you guys go?"

"Of course we'll go!" Cole said hurriedly. Then his face fell. "But how are we going to find her if she doesn't want to be found?"

"Simple," I said calmly. Everyone's eyes snapped to me. "The falcon has been keeping an eye on her, so I will merely tap into its system and get her exact coordinates."

"Okay, that's pretty clever," Kai admitted. I smiled slightly and sent a quick message to the falcon. Moments later, a pair of coordinates were sent into my systems.

"Alright, I have the coordinates and they will change if she moves;" I stated, getting up. "Shall we go, Cole?"

The two of us exited the _Bounty_ and summoned our elemental vehicles, roaring towards Zora's location. From my internal maps, it appeared that she was deep in a nearby forest.

Once we reached the woods and came within a mile of her, we decided to approach on foot. There wasn't enough space for our vehicles anyway.

About ten minutes later, I suddenly got a tingling on the back of my neck.

_We are not alone. And that is not Zora's presence that I sense._

Grabbing Cole's arm, I pointed to the trees and held a finger to my mouth. He got my message and we both swung into the treetops. Moments later, we heard thudding footsteps beneath.

"Are you _certain _she's here, Captain?" A voice floated up, filled with doubt. "If she's as smart as you say she is, she probably didn't stick around, and it's been three months."

"_Silence!"_ Another voice hissed. "She's only been within an acre of the base. She may be a good navigator when thinking clearly, but she wasn't thinking clearly when she got away. I'd bet money that she got hopelessly lost and is still wandering the woods, trying to get out."

Cole and I exchanged glances.

_Is he talking about Zora? On one hand, it makes no sense at all...but on the other, who else could they be talking about?_

We peered carefully through the branches to see about thirty men below us. They all wore combat uniforms with an odd patch on the shoulders. It appeared to be a dagger made of a double helix.

_That's odd...the insignia on their uniforms is not in any of my databases._

We waited silently until they had passed, then carefully climbed down.

"What was _that_ all about?!" Cole whispered.

"I do not know, but I have a nasty feeling about it." I answered. "Let's hurry and find Zora."

I checked our location to see how close we were to Zora's location, then began walking again. But now, we were even more on edge.

Finally we came across a small clearing and I heard a faint beeping in my skull.

"She's here somewhere," I hissed, tapping Cole's shoulder. He nodded and we came to an unspoken agreement, going to opposite ends of the clearing and starting to search for the missing ninja.

There weren't many hiding spots in the clearing, but Zora's position wasn't changing. So either she was invisible or she was exceptional at remaining undetected.

_Which does not surprise me, honestly._

I was startled from my thoughts by Cole's urgent whisper.

"Psst, Frosty! Over here!"

I whipped around and took two steps out of the clearing, following Cole's call. I saw him a few feet away, near a large tree. He pointed to it.

"This is hollow, and I think Zora's inside of it. I heard a distinct squeak when I said her name."

"Well done, brother," I said, circling the tree. Sure enough, the other side had lost enough bark to make an entrance, and I could faintly see the glint of metal in the darkness that was the hollow tree.

_Probably either the kunai or her sai. _

"Zora?" I asked softly. There was no answer. Frowning slightly, I activated my flashlight feature (one of the benefits of being a Nindroid) and poked my head inside. In the dim light, it was much easier to see Zora's form—but something wasn't right.

Zora was curled up into a ball, her back pressing into the wood. Her arms were folded on top of her head, and she was all scrunched up. It made her seem so..._small._

"Zora? Are you quite alright?" I asked, ducking down so I could join her in the tree. I lightly tapped her shoulder; but did _not _expect the reaction she gave.

Zora jumped a little and her head popped up, swiveling to face me so fast that I was afraid she'd strain it. Her eyes were wide and her breath was coming in tiny, irregular pants.

"Z-Zane?" she squeaked.

I felt my stomach flop. Zora was shaking like a leaf and I could see the telltale glimmer of unshed tears. She looked absolutely petrified with sheer terror.

_What on earth happened?!_

"Guys?" Cole poked his head in and looked around. Then his eyes widened. "Zora, what happened?!"

"G-get me out of h-here. P-please." Zora whispered. I shared a concerned glance with Cole. Then the earth ninja gave a decisive nod.

"Okay. Come on, we'll summon the vehicles, cramped or not."

Before we could crawl out of the tree, however, we heard the sound of people tramping through the woods. Zora stiffened and clamped her hands over her mouth, clearly trying not to make a sound.

_So she's scared of the people in the woods...this settles it. They were talking about Zora._

Cole crawled into the tree and peered through a crack in the wood.

"More of those guys we saw earlier," he informed me quietly. "When they get close, we make a distraction and then we _scram._"

"That is an acceptable plan of action."

We waited for our moment as the men started to spread out, yelling at each other to 'leave no stone unturned'.

Finally, they got too close for comfort, and Cole gave me a quick nod and pointed to the left. I immediately figured out his meaning and held out one of my shuriken, sending a bolt of ice in that direction. It coated a tree about fifty feet away.

The plan worked perfectly. All of the searchers swarmed the ice-covered tree while Cole crept out of the tree.

"The coast is clear," he said. "Hurry!"

I wasted no time and grabbed Zora's hand, forcing her to her feet and pulling her behind me.

"Let's summon our vehicles, it will be faster," I suggested.

"Good idea, Frosty. Zora, you'll ride with me; there's more room in the tank."

Like a gentleman, Cole helped Zora into the huge car and started it up, roaring away. I decided to leave a quick parting gift for the searchers to buy us some time—a wall of ice several inches thick. Then I summoned my motorcycle and zoomed after Cole and Zora.

Moments later, my communicator crackled to life.

"Hey, Zane, I'm gonna page the _Bounty _so they can pick us up at the edge of the forest and get us out of here."

"Very good, brother. How is Zora?"

There was a long pause.

"...Um, not great. She looks like she's about to pass out from terror."

_That's not good._

"Then I think it would be best to hurry and call Nya. The sooner we're back in the sky, the better."

**(Nya's POV)**

I scanned the radar for what felt like the thousandth time and sighed.

"Well, no signs of trouble," I said, turning around. Jay was lounging nearby and he looked up from whatever it was he was doing.

"That's good, isn't it?" He said, getting up. I held back a wince at his brand-new back eye.

_Sheesh...Zora hits hard._

"Yeah, it is. But it also means no leads." I checked the clock and frowned. "Shouldn't Cole, Zane, and Zora be back by now? It's been almost an hour."

"Maybe they had trouble finding her. She's pretty good at hiding," Jay suggested. He chuckled ruefully. "Guess I went a little too far earlier."

I couldn't really argue with that. But before I had to say anything, the communication panel began blinking red. I quickly opened up the com lines.

"You've reached the _Bounty_."

"Good." Cole's voice came out of the speaker, sounding tense and on edge. "I'm sending you some coordinates. We could really use a pickup right about now."

"What happened?" Jay asked worriedly. Behind us, I heard footsteps as Kai came to see what the fuss was about.

"Long story short, there were some sketchy guys in the woods and from their conversations, we assume they're after Zora. And there's also the fact that Zora is nearly catatonic with fear."

_Catatonic with fear? ZORA?!_

"We'll be there as soon as we can," I said, starting up the engines.

"Thanks. Meet us at the edge of the forest nearby. You can see it from the deck."

"You got it."

"Thanks again. Cole signing off."

The ship slowly rose into the air as I raced to the wheel.

"Jay, read off the coordinates."

Following his directions, I steered the ship to the border of some thick woods. Kai ran out to the deck. Moments later, he shouted back to us.

"I can see Cole's car! Lower the anchor!"

Jay raced out to do as he asked while I waited on the bridge. A few minutes later, Jay poked his head in.

"They're on the anchor and on their way up. You are cleared to depart."

I nodded solemnly and started the engines up again, taking us away from the forest. Then I left to go check on everyone.

Once I got to the deck, my jaw dropped. Zora was curled in the fetal position and making small whimpering noises that just about broke my heart.

"Dang," Jay mumbled. "Y'know, I've always seen Zora as unflappable, but she's looking pretty flapped right now."

"Yeah, she's not having a good day, is she?" Kai agreed. I shot them a dirty look before crouching on the floor next to my friend.

"Z?"

No response.

"Nya, perhaps we should give her some time to calm down," Zane suggested cautiously. Then he looked around. "Do you smell something burning?"

"AGH! MY CHILI!"  
We all burst out laughing at Kai's terrified expression as he ran to the kitchen. Then we headed inside, though I threw a nervous glance in Zora's direction.

_I'll check on her in a few minutes._

I came inside and snorted in amusement as I took in the scene in front of me. Kai was moaning about his chili (which had bubbled over) and the others were snickering at him.

"I'm gonna take this and dump it," Kai grumbled. "And I'll keep an eye on Zora, too."

"Thanks, bro," I said gratefully. As he walked out, I turned my attention to Cole and Zane. "What happened out there, you two?"

"Well, we went out into the woods to find Zora," Cole began. "But then we ran into a group of guys in military uniforms who were talking about someone who had 'gotten away'."

"They had an odd patch on their uniforms, but the insignia was not in my databases," Zane added. "However, considering the fact that we found Zora hiding in a hollow tree and nearly fainting from fear, I suspect that they are from the 'Institute', as she calls it."

"Can you draw it?" Jay asked. Zane smirked slightly.

"I believe I can do better than that." He opened a panel on his arm and tapped a few buttons. Moments later, a holographic dagger was projected above his arm. But the odd thing about the dagger was the blade: it looked like it had been forged in a double helix, giving it the appearance of a strand of DNA.

"So that's their logo?" I said, mostly to myself.

"I mean, it makes sense. They're weaponizing genetics, from the sound of it." Jay said quietly. There was a tense silence as we contemplated the implications of this. I shuddered slightly.

_No wonder Zora's terrified of them…_

Suddenly, the door to the bridge banged open, making us all jump in surprise. Kai strode in and took a seat.

"Zora's asleep; she was pretty tired from the panic attack. I put her on her bed, but you might want to check on her before you go to sleep, sis."

"Of course I will. Thanks for calming her down."

"No problem." Kai leaned back. "I promised that since she can clearly kick the Serpentine's butts, the only thing going to hurt her on the _Bounty _is Cole's cooking."

We all cracked up at that, even Zane. Cole was less amused and sputtered indignantly for several minutes.

Once I'd gotten control of myself, I quietly got up and walked to the room I shared with Zora, leaving the boys to bicker. Once I got there, I saw that Kai had (very sweetly, in my opinion) taken off her gi jacket and draped it on the dresser while setting her shoes by the bed. He'd even pulled her hair out of its usual braid.

_He acts so tough all the time, but he really is just a big softie._

I chuckled slightly and pulled a blanket over Zora, who didn't even twitch. Lightly patting her cheek, I returned to the main room to make sure the boys didn't wreak _too _much havoc.

**A/N: And done! I hope you all enjoyed this non-canon chapter! It's a bit short, but ah well. At least I got it out! (Which for me, is always a gamble.)**

**I really can't apologize enough for my sporadic updates. As an avid reader of fanfiction myself, I know that it is incredibly aggravating waiting for an author to update. With that said, I really appreciate everyone who's patient enough to put up with my slow updates.**

**Until next chapter, everyone! Stay home and stay healthy!**


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